The average price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Bradford on Monday was $3.997, as prices headed up again in the region.
The average in Brookville was $3.766, in DuBois, $3.949; in Erie, $3.966; and in Warren, $3.998, according to AAA East Central.
Average gasoline prices in Pennsylvania have risen 6.6 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.94 per gallon on Monday, according to GasBuddy. Prices in Pennsylvania are 9.9 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and stand 47.9 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has increased 18.7 cents in the last week and stands at $5.06 per gallon.
According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Pennsylvania was priced at $3.45 per gallon on Sunday while the most expensive was $6.19 per gallon, a difference of $2.74 per gallon.
The national average price of gasoline has fallen 5.4 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.86 per gallon on Monday. The national average is up 20.6 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 56.6 cents per gallon higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.
“After a sharp rise in the national average over the last few weeks, we’ve seen an abrupt, yet expected decline as refinery issues have eased in the West and Great Lakes, overpowering some increases elsewhere. Though at the same time, diesel prices have soared,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“We’ll see a continued sharp drop in gas prices on the West Coast, including areas like Las Vegas and Phoenix, which are supplied by refiners in California, as refinery outages have been addressed,” De Haan continued “The Great Lakes will see prices drift lower as BP’s Whiting refinery is soon to complete maintenance. In addition, oil prices have cooled off slightly after OPEC+’s decision to cut production, and that should slow increases elsewhere. Diesel and heating oil prices are likely to continue to rise as extremely low inventories of middle of the barrel products like these two push prices higher.”
At the close of Friday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate decreased by $3.50 to settle at $85.61. Concerns regarding a possible global economic recession led to a drop in the price of crude which helped to minimize pump price increases last week. Additionally, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported total commercial crude inventories increased by 9.9 million barrels to 439.1 million barrels.
Meanwhile, domestic gasoline demand decreased as fewer drivers fueled up in the first half of October. According to EIA, gas demand decreased nationally from 9.47 million barrels per day to 8.28 million barrels per day, and total domestic gasoline stocks increased by 2 million barrels to 209.5 million barrels.
