There are 45,000 gas stations in the United States selling gasoline for less than $3 per gallon and not one of them is in Bradford.
One tenth of one cent: That’s how much the average price of a gallon of gas in Bradford dropped during the last week — from $3.802 to $3.801.
The rest of the country, meantime, saw seasonal drops of about a nickel. Nationally, the average shed 7.2 cents to stand at $3.22 per gallon Monday, according to GasBuddy reports. That’s 58.8 cents less than one year ago and 22.5 cents less than a month ago. Diesel reached its lowest average price since early 2022 at $3.62 per gallon.
In Pennsylvania, the cheapest station was selling gasoline Monday for $2.87 per gallon and the most expensive for $4.39, varying by $1.52 per gallon. The commonwealth’s average dipped 6.1 cents this week to rest at $3.40, 19.3 cents lower than last month and 43.6 cents lower than last year.
Closer to home, western Pennsylvania averages dropped 5 cents to $3.575 Monday, according to AAA East Central reports. It was $3.384 in Brookville, $3.442 in DuBois, $3.528 in Erie and, also largely unchanged, $3.773 in Warren.
“Impressively, for the sixth straight week, gas prices have dropped to their lowest since winter. GasBuddy now counts 11 states and over 45,000 stations with gas prices below $3 per gallon,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “We fully expect gas prices will continue to drop as Americans drive less with the onset of fall. With oil prices falling below $70 per barrel, their lowest since 2021, there’s solid room for gas prices and diesel to continue falling for some time. We expect the national average could fall below $3 per gallon as early as October for the first time since 2021, which would be music to the ears of motorists and certainly to politicians who are angling to be elected this fall.”
Driving prices lower everywhere but here are seasonally lower gas demand and the plunging cost of oil, according to AAA East Central. Local buyers Ergon and American Refining Group have decreased the price they will pay for a barrel of crude oil every day since Aug. 30, when they increased their offering to $71.91. As of Friday, they decreased prices by another $1.48 to $63.67.
According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand fell last week from 9.30 million daily barrels to 8.93. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks rose slightly to 219.2 million barrels, and gasoline production increased. At the end of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate fell by $1.14 to settle at $69.20 a barrel. The EIA also reports that crude oil inventories decreased and are about 5% below the five-year average for this time of the year.
Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at gasprices.aaa.com.
