Motorists are seeing prices rising at the pumps in New Jersey.

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AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in New Jersey on Friday was $3.45, up 11 cents from last week.

That's also nearly the same price from a year ago, when motorists were paying $3.42.

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New Jersey Gas Prices provided by GasBuddy.com

Meanwhile, the national average price rose 13 cents to $3.46, exactly where it was a year ago.

Analysts say the higher national gas prices are due to rising crude oil and wholesale prices, refinery maintenance and low gasoline supplies.

Also contributing to the rise is a rigorous schedule of January maintenance at West Coast refineries and low inventories on the East Coast.

AAA noted that February in recent years is traditionally a month in which prices spike. Political issues in Iran and Libya were blamed for spikes the past two years.

While gas prices this February are expected to increase at a slower rate, major events such as an unexpected refinery outage, increased unrest in North Africa or changes in the global economy could affect this month’s forecast. The national average in February has increased nine out of the previous ten years.  Last year gasoline prices jumped 28 cents, or 8 percent, in February and averaged $3.55 for the month.

 

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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