TAMPA, Fla. - Crude oil closed just shy of $100 a barrel last week as optimism among investors continued that the U.S. economy will begin to pick up.

Oil settled Friday at $99.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange – $2.38 more than the week prior.

A weakened U.S. dollar coupled with European agreements to resolve the debt crisis and bailout Greece also drove oil prices higher. While gasoline demand remains relatively unchanged from this time last year, crude stockpiles fell as a result of increased demand for diesel.

"Consumers can expect to see retail gas prices increase further this week and it's likely this increase will continue into August," said Jessica Brady, spokesperson, AAA Auto Club South. "As hurricane season starts to heat up with various storms forming, it's likely oil prices will remain volatile on that factor alone. We are definitely going to see ebbs and flows in the oil market for the remainder of the summer with gas prices in continual fluctuation."

The national average price of regular unleaded gasoline is $3.69 per gallon, a 2-cent increase from last week. Florida’s average price of $3.70 increased 4 cents. Georgia’s average price $3.73 rose 7 cents from last week. And, Tennessee’s average price of $3.57 increased 4 cents from last week, respectively.