This may be the 11th straight week that gasoline prices have fallen, but at an average of $4.24 per gallon in Bradford, it’s still about 70 cents more than it was a year ago.
According to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report, Brookville’s average price was $4.009; DuBois was $4.079; Erie was $4.194; and Warren was $4.237.
GasBuddy’s survey reported that average gasoline prices fell 8.5 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.12 per gallon for the state. The cheapest station in Pennsylvania was at $3.39 per gallon on Sunday, while the most expensive was $5.19 per gallon, a difference of $1.80 per gallon.
The national average price of diesel has risen 7.3 cents in the last week and stands at $5.04 per gallon.
Even though crude oil prices increased slightly over the past week, lower domestic demand for gasoline is keeping gas prices lower, AAA reported.
“The national average has declined for another week, extending the slide for the eleventh straight week. Gas prices are now $1.20 per gallon lower than mid-June with Americans spending $450 million less on gasoline every day as a result,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“Some issues have developed that we’re keeping a close eye on, including the shut down of the largest refinery in the Midwest,” he continued. “While that refinery may get back online sooner rather than later, it’s not impossible that down the road the situation could impact prices in the region. For the rest of the country, however, we’ll continue to see prices moderate. This is of course subject to hurricane season, and it does appear that the tropics are starting to see some activity, so there’s no guarantee the decline will continue.”
According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand decreased from 9.35 million barrels per day to 8.43 million barrels per day last week. This rate is 920,000 barrels per day lower than last year. Moreover, according to EIA, total domestic gasoline stocks remained almost unchanged week over week. With gas demand down and supplies unchanged, prices at the pump continue to fall. This steady daily decrease, now in its 74th consecutive day, is the longest streak since Oct. 11, 2018 when the national average price of gas fell for 85 consecutive days.
