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CAMARILLO – After a flat summer, gasoline prices edged up nearly 2 cents per gallon in the past two weeks, an industry analyst said Sunday. 

“The low and very, very stable prices throughout the summer did have to end some time,” Trilby Lundberg said. “What we have is a closer balance between supply and demand and continued crude oil price strengths.” 

Despite increased summer driving demand, supplies remained plentiful, she added. 

“Considering the extremely low prices of the whole summer, this is not an indicator of great price hikes to come ... or a gasoline shortage,” Lundberg said. 

The national price of gas at the pump averaged about $1.46 per gallon on Friday, according to the Lundberg survey of 8,000 stations. That was up 1.68 cents from July 12. 

The average had hovered within a few pennies of that range since peaking at $1.46 in early April. 

Most regions of the country saw a price hike, although the West, where prices already were higher, averaged a drop of about a penny per gallon, Lundberg said. 

The hike brought the average pump price back to where it had been a year ago. 

The national weighted average price of gasoline, including taxes, at self-serve pumps was about $1.43 per gallon for regular, $1.53 for mid-grade and $1.61 for premium.