Somewhere in Pennsylvania, drivers were paying the lowest price in the state at $3.15 per gallon of gas on Sunday, according to GasBuddy. It wasn’t in Bradford, where averages on Monday were at $3.89 a gallon.
While Bradford’s price was a bit lower for the week, it was higher than the Pennsylvania average of $3.75 per gallon, GasBuddy reported.
Elsewhere in the region, in Brookville, a gallon of gas was $3.808; in DuBois, $3.822; in Erie, $3.844; and in Warren, $3.897, according to AAA East Central.
The most expensive station in the state had $4.38 a gallon for gasoline, GasBuddy reported.
Prices in Pennsylvania are 9.3 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and stand 14.3 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 5.2 cents in the last week and stands at $4.60 per gallon.
The national average price of gasoline has fallen 4.4 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.44 per gallon on Monday. The national average is up 17.5 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 1.7 cents per gallon higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy.
“For the first time in 2023, the national average price of gasoline has seen a weekly decline, primarily thanks to a sharp and sudden drop in the price of oil,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“While the decline in both gasoline and diesel prices is terrific, it’s not unusual to see prices falling in February, which tends to be the month with some of the lowest gasoline prices of the year thanks to seasonally weak demand. For diesel, we’re likely to see more declines, and potentially much more significant in the weeks ahead as imports of distillate have accelerated, leading to a sell off.”
He continued, “And, with warmer weather ahead, demand may struggle as well. However, especially for gasoline, high levels of coming maintenance and the eventual transition to summer gasoline could lead today’s declines to reverse down the road. For now, motorists should enjoy the decline, but be wary as we’re likely to eventually see increases again down the road.”
According to AAA, last week’s decision by OPEC+ to maintain current production levels and not make any cuts led to lower oil prices. Oil prices account for as much as 60% of the cost of a gallon of gas.
According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand rose from 8.14 million to 8.49 million barrels per day last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks increased by 2.6 million barrels to 234.6 million barrels. Despite rising gas demand, total supply growth has helped limit pump price increases.
