NJ gas prices — how much more will you pay in 2017?

The New Jersey gas tax was raised by 23 cents a gallon at the beginning of November, so we’re now paying higher prices at the pump than for most of this year — but what happens in 2017?

According to Tom Kloza, the global head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service, prices will eventually begin to go up, probably around the time the Super Bowl is played, but nothing crazy is expected.

He said for the next month to six weeks, we can expect prices around what they are now, $2.37 a gallon on average, “but then somewhere between President’s Day and Cinco De Mayo or Memorial Day, we’ll see prices shoot up. I think we’ll probably see a high in this state of between $2.50 and $2.75.”

He said prices will start to creep higher “because money is flowing into oil futures, and they’ll creep up because gasoline stocks are going to be lower than last year and we’re going to be changing formulas.”

Kloza said yes, you will pay more for gasoline in 2017, but not too much more, and after prices go up, they’ll begin to drift downward again.

“Just assuredly as you’ll get an increase to let’s say $2.60 or $2.75 in the spring, prices will tend to ease back from that.”

He said “we’re not expecting anything dramatic, and by dramatic I mean you could look back at three years, 2011, 12 and 13, where we paid $3.25 to $3.50 on average —we’re not looking at anything like that.”

Kloza also said there’s so much oil in the strategic oil reserve right now that some of it will be sold off next month, to raise funds for upgrades needed in managing the reserve, and that will help to buffer any price increases due to higher oil prices and increased demand in the spring and summer.

“It will be another cheap year, but probably a year maybe 40 cents more expensive than what we’ve seen this year,” he said.

Kloza added the only thing that would cause prices to spike in 2017 would be some kind of major calamity like a hurricane that would shut down refineries, or some world event that would cause a panic, like a military confrontation in the Middle East.