Drivers have received a reprieve as gasoline prices continue to decline, falling for the fifth consecutive week.
The average U.S. gas price has dropped by 14.4 cents from a week ago to $3.21 per gallon, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the U.S.
The national average declined by 56.5 cents from a month ago and 11 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.
Prices for diesel have also declined, outpacing gasoline prices. The national average price of diesel dropped by 14.9 cents in the last week and now sells for $4.91 per gallon. There are seven cities where the average diesel price already reached $3.99 a gallon, including Tulsa, Okla., Corpus Christi, Texas and Fort Stewart, Ga.
“Not only has the decline in gasoline prices lasted five straight weeks, with again every state seeing a weekly decline in its average, but average diesel prices have fallen in 49 states over the last week as well,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, a Boston-based provider of retail fuel pricing information and data.
Drivers are saving about $20 per fill-up compared to six months ago.
Even the West Coast is seeing larger declines in prices. The average price has fallen nearly $2 per gallon since October.
Gasoline Prices Falling to $2.99 a Gallon
There are now 15 states that are selling gasoline prices for an average of $2.99 or less, with several more states expected to reach this lower level, he said.
"We remain on schedule to see the national average gas price fall below $3 by Christmas, with diesel set to fall 50 cents to $1 per gallon over the next six weeks or so," De Haan said. "While the Keystone Pipeline shutdown has been getting some attention, motorists need not worry much about the oil-carrying pipeline for now. There is no expected impact to gasoline prices as of now.”
The most common U.S. gasoline price has fallen to $2.99 per gallon, unchanged from last week. The other top five most common prices are $3.09, $2.89, $2.79 and $3.19.
The median gas price is $3.09 per gallon, down 16 cents from last week and 12 cents lower than the national average.
The top 10% of stations in the country average $4.35 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $2.53 per gallon.
The states with the lowest average prices: Texas at $2.66, Oklahoma at $2.67 and Arkansas at $2.76. The states with the highest average prices: Hawaii at $5.02, California at $4.45 and Nevada $4.22.
Demand Declines
Consumers drove less last week and demand from Sunday to Saturday or Dec. 4 to Dec. 11 fell by 2% after rebounding the week before, according to data from GasBuddy that came from its Pay with GasBuddy card.
Demand only rose by 0.3% in PADD 4 which includes Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming and fell in the rest of the U.S. - a decline of 0.5% in PADD 1, 2.2% in PADD 2, 6.0% in PADD 3 and 0.8% in PADD 5.
Oil Prices Tanked
As China changes its covid-19 zero tolerance policy, the possibility for a potential surge in the number of people getting the virus as the country reopens, global economic pressures and the belief that that OPEC+ is producing too much oil contributed to oil prices plummeting last week.
The massive decline reached nearly their lowest level in a year.
Oil prices have struggled to rebound - West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, rose by 3.17% to $73.25 on Monday, compared to a week ago's $81.99 per barrel start.
The international benchmark, Brent crude oil, was trading at $78 a barrel, up by 2.5%, but remains lower than $87 a barrel compared to a week ago.
Last week's U.S. rig count was down 4 to 780 and was 204 rigs higher than a year ago, according to Baker Hughes. The Canadian rig count was up 7 rigs to 202 and was 25 rigs higher than a year ago.
