PITTSBURGH — The average price of gasoline across Western Pennsylvania is four cents cheaper this week at $2.082 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.
Most states in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region saw weekly decreases of two to four cents. Washington, D.C. ($2.19), New York ($2.17) and Pennsylvania ($2.04) land on the top 10 list for largest state averages in the country. At $1.65, Virginia carries the cheapest average in the region.
Gasoline stocks in the region have been steadily increasing for a month now. The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest report shows a weekly build of 2 million barrels, pushing regional stock levels to a very healthy 73.8 million barrels. Since February, regional refinery utilization has been on the decline. However, for the week ending April 17, utilization increased nearly 5% to 44%. Motorists in the region will likely see gas prices to continue to decrease in the coming weeks.
The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in Bradford is $2.160; in Brookville, $2.099; in DuBois, $2.100; in Erie, $2.068; and in Warren, $2.159.
As gas prices continue to push cheaper across the country, a dozen states carry an average of $2/gallon or more. Today’s national average is $1.77, which is four cents less than last week, 28 cents cheaper than last month and $1.11 less than a year ago. Some states could see minimal fluctuation at the pump in coming weeks if demand jumps as business are given the green light to re-open. However, this will not have a large impact for most of the nation’s motorists.
Crude oil prices were extremely volatile last week, pushing negative for the first time ever, but they did make significant gains to end the week in the positive. At the end of Friday’s formal trading session, WTI increased by 44 cents to settle at $16.94 per barrel. This increase was in response to reports of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries reducing crude output before the May 1 start date of its 9.7 million b/d production reduction agreement for May and June 2020. Crude prices will likely remain volatile this week, as the market continues to assess how much crude demand will continue to fall during the ongoing pandemic.
