Some Pennsylvanians rely on Ohio for relief from high gas prices. This week, the tables turned.

Profit margins at the four gas stations Mamoun Akba manages around East Palestine, Ohio, are shrinking.

Business is down 10% at the pump. Fewer people fueling up at his stations has also caused a 15% to 20% drop in sales inside his convenience stores compared to a month ago.

"I've never seen that before. Never in my entire life," said Akba, who has been manager of four Swift Mart locations in northeastern Ohio for 11 years. "It's chaos, honestly."

As the price difference for gas between Ohio and Pennsylvania narrows, drivers looking to cross state lines for a better deal likely won't find much relief.

Disruptions at several major refineries across the Midwest are driving wholesale costs up and, in turn, causing retail prices in Ohio to rise and surpass that of Pennsylvania. That's on top of crude oil prices that are already raising total costs for consumers at the pump across the country.

Typically, gas prices in Ohio are 20 to 30 cents lower than in Pennsylvania, said Jim Garrity, spokesman for AAA East Central.

"That inverted last week," Garrity said. "It's very rare to see such an inversion of a difference between the two states."

On Thursday, average prices across Pennsylvania were about $4.69 per gallon, compared to $4.78 in Ohio, according to AAA. Average prices in the counties along the border sat around $4.70 in both states, above the national average of $4.55, data shows.

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Pennsylvania's high costs are largely because it has one of the highest gas taxes in the country - about 57 cents per gallon of motor gasoline - compared to 38 cents per gallon in Ohio.

The surge in gas prices in Ohio has left Western Pennsylvania residents near the border without the cheaper alternative as prices inch closer to $5 per gallon. Many stations across the Pittsburgh region spiked to $4.99 per gallon this week.

Prices across the region are already up about 50 cents per gallon since last week - and over $1 more than last year, AAA data shows.

"It's the perfect storm," said Karim D. Marshall, director of climate and energy policy at the Consumer Federation of America, which advocates for consumer interests and seeks improvements to the fuel economy.

"There really won't be any place that consumers can go to where they won't feel it in some way."

Sky-high prices

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said the abnormal trend is mostly due to several Midwest refineries that faced issues while undergoing spring maintenance to prepare for the start of the summer, which is usually the busiest travel time of the year.

The issues are impacting Western Pennsylvania, too, but it is taking slightly longer to hit, he said. That's leading to prices on the western side of the state to hover around $4.70 as of Thursday, compared to $4.50 and $4.60 toward the east.

De Haan said Ohio's prices could start to stabilize over the next week or two. Ohio's average was down about 2 cents per gallon since Wednesday, while Pennsylvania's is up about 5 cents, data shows.

"Generally speaking, the increases are temporary, and as refineries address the issues … prices eventually fall, which is starting to happen in Ohio," he said. "I would expect that the traditional Ohio discount to Pennsylvania should start to re-emerge."

Akba attributed the decline in business at his stations around East Palestine to customers having less disposable income as more of their cash goes toward paying for the gas itself.

Some are only partially filling their tanks, he said. Others are opting out of buying that extra snack inside his stores.

"I don't think it's going to change soon," he said. "I think it's affecting all businesses."

Searching for relief

Costs are spiking as the war Iran persists, topping out this week near the all-time record in Pennsylvania.

The all-time record price for gas in Western Pennsylvania was about $5.02 in June 2022, according to AAA.

Prices are now the highest they've been since summer 2022, during the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Ohio became one of the top 10 most expensive gasoline markets in the country early this week.

As consumers hunt around for affordable gas options, Marshall of the Consumer Federation of America said the high demand is raising costs even at gas stations off the beaten path.

"The general supply of global petroleum is less available now than it was two months ago, so because the general supply is lower, the price is going to go up," he said. "And then when you layer on top of that the refinery issues, there is an even stronger incentive for prices to go up."

But that doesn't mean people will stop trying to find the best price.

Nearly 70% of drivers said they would drive five minutes out of their way to save 5 cents per gallon, according to a 2025 survey from the National Association of Convenience Stores, a global trade association dedicated to advancing convenience and fuel retailing.

"People will definitely change their behavior to find a better deal on gas prices, or what they see as a better deal on gas prices," said Jeff Lenard, vice president of NACS media and strategic communications. "That's not as much available now with the higher prices in Ohio."

The business trickle-down

While the price of gas cuts deep into drivers' pockets, business is hurting, too.

"Anytime there's a cross-border disparity … it puts the retailer on the other side of the border with the higher wholesale price at the disadvantage," Lenard said.

At the same time, consumers are looking for deals inside the convenience stores to mitigate the costs they're facing at the pump, he said.

Others might not have any money left to spend.

"Station owners don't like higher prices any more than their customers," he said. "When gas prices climb, stations tend to hold back profit margins to remain as price competitive as possible."

For Akba, his profit margin across his four has become "almost nothing just to get by."

And he foresees that business could go down by 30 to 40% the longer gas prices remain high.

"We're trying hard to go lower to attract [Pennsylvania] people," he said. "At the same time, we're losing."

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