Utica, NY (WIBX) - Concerns over the ongoing unrest in Egypt pushed oil prices over $100 per barrel this week, before they settled back into the double-digits.

Ed Welsh, central region general manager for AAA, says any 'unrest' in the Middle East forces oil and gas prices higher.

"Certainly as oil speculators view this it drives the price of oil up. If it wasn't for the Egyptian situation we would probably see oil prices flat or possibly going down because we have a good supply right now, so it's now an issue of supply."

How does Egypt play a role in the oil supply?

Welsh says there are about 1.8 million barrels of oil transported through the Suez Canal each day. Plus, another 1.1 million barrels that are funneled through an oil pipeline adjacent to the canal, total nearly 3-million barrels each day.

Locally, the average price in the Utica-Rome market is $3.36 per gallon this week. That's up just one penny over the past two weeks. But, as Welsh said, gas would likely be trending in the opposite direction if not for the chaos in Egypt.

Last year at this time we were paying an average of $2.97 per gallon in central New York.

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