CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Greater Cleveland jumped 17 cents overnight and is heading higher.

The average price at noon Wednesday was $2.24 a gallon, up from $2.07 on Tuesday, according to GasBuddy, the Internet-based price watchdog.

The average price in Akron was just under $2.18 -- up 20 cents from Tuesday's $1.98. GasBuddy calculated the average Ohio price was just under $2.23 by noon Wednesday -- up 19 cents in a day.

The U.S. average price was up a nickle to $2.11.

The surge here occurred even as the price of the best grade of U.S. oil declined another $3 to under $50 a barrel and the best European crude fell by more than $2 to under $56.

GasBuddy blamed it on wholesale price spikes scattered across the nation.

Analysts said the strike at nine refineries that began Sunday had not affected prices, according to wire reports. The refineries are continuing to run without the unionized employees because managers are at the controls of the automated systems that take care of day-to-day operations.

The U.S Energy Information Administration noted Tuesday that its weekly Monday survey of gasoline prices, including those in Greater Cleveland, had found an upturn in prices and that a 17-week "streak" of declines -- that had dropped prices by 58 percent -- had come to an end.

"The high refinery output and seasonally low gasoline demand in December 2014 led to inventories building higher than five-year averages, which pushed spot [wholesale] gasoline prices lower," the EIA noted.

"In the Midwest and Gulf Coast, refinery utilization in December averaged more than 97 percent and 96 percent, respectively. In mid-to-late January, multiple refinery outages (both planned and unplanned) in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions increased gasoline spot prices, which are reflected in pump prices with a short lag."

The EIA said that the declines of the previous 17 weeks "was the longest consecutive decrease in EIA's weekly survey since prices fell 14 cents per gallon over a 24-week period in 1995.

Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst and founder of the Oil Price Information Service, in December predicted that the price declines would end by Ground Hog's Day.