Gas Prices Dip Again as U.S. Boosts Oil Production
CARS.COM — After declining for three weeks in a row on a national basis, gas prices have moved higher in parts of the country in recent days. The AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said Thursday that the national average for regular gas was $2.28 a gallon, down a penny from a week ago. A three-week streak of daily declines ended Tuesday, and the national average has moved up one cent since then.
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Indiana, where dozens of stations were selling regular for less than $2 a gallon, had the biggest weekly price jump — a 6-cent increase to $2.14. Ohio’s statewide average rose 2 cents to $2.11, and Kentucky’s rose 3 cents to $2.20. In the previous three weeks, prices had fallen by 26 cents in Ohio and 28 cents in Indiana.
The Great Lakes area has some of the most volatile prices in the country, in part because a large number of independent brands push discounted prices that promote competition. Though prices rose the past week in Indiana and Ohio, they continued to drop in Illinois and Wisconsin, where the statewide averages fell by 5 cents. Prices also continued to fall in the Southeast, where regular dropped 2 to 4 cents in most states.
South Carolina had the lowest statewide average for regular at $2.03 a gallon, according to AAA, followed by Alabama, $2.06; Tennessee, $2.07; and Mississippi, $2.08. (Prices fluctuate throughout the day and could change.) Average prices for regular rose by a penny in Hawaii and California, the two most expensive states for gas. Hawaii was at $3.08 and California at $2.74, followed by Alaska at $2.74 and Washington, $2.72.
The national average for regular has fallen 6 cents over the past month but is 49 cents higher than a year ago, when a sustained decline in pump prices was nearing an end. Premium gas, at $2.79 a gallon, was also 49 cents higher than a year ago, and diesel fuel, at $2.51, was 47 cents higher.
Prices rose across the country during December and early January after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced oil production cuts that began Jan. 1. Though the production cuts have helped boost the price of oil by more than $10 a barrel, AAA said the number of active oil rigs in North America has increased as a result, offsetting part of OPEC’s effort. U.S. oil was trading at nearly $54 early Thursday, up by about 75 cents a barrel from a week ago.
GasBuddy.com analyst Patrick DeHaan said that in addition to higher oil production in the U.S. and Canada, an abundant supply and weak demand for gas was keeping a lid on pump prices. DeHaan said U.S. gasoline inventories have climbed enough in the last month to cover more than three days of demand. The Energy Information Administration said gasoline demand in January was down 7.7 percent compared with 2016 and is nearly 20 percent below peak summer demand.
