Pennsylvania residents are seeing some relief at the gas pump, with prices falling two cents per gallon over the past week to a state average of $3.63 per gallon.
In Western Pennsylvania, according to AAA East Central, the prices are four cents lower for an average of $3.69 per gallon. The average price in Bradford was $3.713, in Brookville, $3.574, in DuBois, $3.522, in Erie, $3.68, and in Warren, $3.699.
A lot of factors are at play in determining prices right now, making it tricky to predict what the upcoming holiday weekend might hold.
“In the run up to Memorial Day, the national average price of gas has seen little overall movement over the last week,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“We’ve seen more states see prices climb than fall, which has been driven by oil’s volatility as debt ceiling discussions are ongoing. I think we’ll see prices rise slightly as we get closer to Memorial Day, especially if there are positive developments in the debt ceiling discussions in D.C., while pessimism could drive prices slightly lower.”
According to GasBuddy, prices in Pennsylvania are 13.7 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand 113.4 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 3.2 cents in the last week and stands at $3.94 per gallon.
The cheapest station in Pennsylvania was priced at $3.15 per gallon Sunday while the most expensive was $4.49 per gallon, a difference of $1.34 per gallon.
The national average price of gasoline is unchanged in the last week, averaging $3.51 per gallon on Monday. The national average is down 14.7 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 106.5 cents per gallon lower 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.
De Haan said, “I continue to be optimistic that the national average will remain under $4 per gallon for most of, if not the entire summer, with Americans spending a combined $1.6 billion less on gasoline over Memorial Day weekend this year compared to last.”
AAA said gas prices are relatively stable.
According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand declined from 9.30 to 8.91 million barrels per day last week. The drop has reduced pressure on pump prices. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks decreased by 1.4 million barrels to 218.3 million barrels.
At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate increased by $1.97 to settle at $72.83. Oil prices rose amid growing market optimism that global energy demand is rebounding, particularly since China is recovering faster than originally expected following the lifting of its COVID restrictions. Additionally, the EIA reported that total domestic commercial crude inventories increased by 5 million barrels to 467.6 million barrels last week.
