It’s welcome news now that Christmas is all over … except for the bills. Gas prices are still sliding down a little bit at a time.
AAA East Central reported gas prices were two cents lower in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.435 per gallon. In Bradford, the average was $3.65; in Brookville, $3.390; in DuBois, $3.349; in Erie, $3.338; and in Warren, $3.597.
Overall in Pennsylvania, the average was $3.41 per gallon Tuesday, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 5,269 stations in Pennsylvania.
Prices in Pennsylvania are 13.5 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand 15.8 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has risen 0.6 cents in the last week and stands at $4 per gallon.
According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Pennsylvania was priced at $2.97 per gallon Monday while the most expensive was $4.49 per gallon, a difference of $1.52 per gallon.
That’s not the trend for the rest of the nation. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said data shows the national average has risen 2.9 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.07 per gallon Tuesday.
“After 13 straight weeks of decline, average gasoline prices have edged higher due to optimistic comments from the Fed on cutting interest rates in 2024, coupled with Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, boosting concerns of a disruption to global shipping, including oil shipments,” said De Haan.
“For now, the price of gasoline has already jumped, but could ease slightly this week ahead of the new year,” he continued. “For now, I’m optimistic that we may still have a chance of seeing the first $2.99 national average since 2021 sometime before spring arrives. We’ll have the full details on what we expect for gasoline and diesel prices in 2024 later this week. Hopefully motorists will be able to celebrate a new year with good news at the pump!”
AAA stated that new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that gas demand dipped slightly from 8.86 to 8.75 million barrels per day last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks increased slightly by 2.7 million barrels to 226.7 million barrels.
Robust gas demand and elevated oil prices have jolted pump prices as the U.S. enters winter.
At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate increased by 28 cents to settle at $74.22.
Oil prices rose due to attacks on tankers in the Red Sea. Because of those attacks, vessels had to be rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope, which requires increased transportation costs. Additionally, the EIA reported that total domestic commercial crude inventories rose by nearly 3 million barrels to 443.7 million barrels last week.
