NOTTINGHAM, MD—The nation’s average gas price has declined 0.7 cents per gallon from a week ago to $3.17 per gallon on Monday according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

The national average is up 3.8 cents from a month ago and $1.00 per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has risen 1.4 cents in the last week and stands at $3.31 per gallon.

“Average gas prices saw little change from a week ago, declining slightly. But overall, prices remained near 2021’s peak price set in early August due to Covid-19 supply and demand imbalances,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “Relief in average gas prices has really only shown up west of the Rockies thus far, and may continue to be delayed by an active hurricane season which has prevented gas prices from their normal seasonal decline. While I am optimistic that we eventually will see a decline in price, the drop is not likely to be as noticeable as I had anticipated due to the above average hurricane season and as demand remains seasonally strong.”

Crude oil prices were sharply higher in early Monday trade on renewed concerns that oil supply is not keeping up with demand as the global economy continues to improve as the pandemic eases.

GAS PRICE TRENDS

• The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists was again $2.99 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $2.89, $3.09 and $2.79.
• The average cost at the priciest 10% of stations stands at $4.21 per gallon, up 2 cents from a week ago, while the lowest 10% average $2.70 per gallon, up a penny from a week ago.
• The median U.S. price is $3.03 per gallon, down 3 cents from last week and about 14 cents lower than the national average.
• The states with the lowest average prices: Mississippi ($2.79), Texas ($2.781) and Arkansas ($2.83).
• The states with the highest priced states: California ($4.37), Hawaii ($4.01) and Nevada ($3.89).

In the NottinghamMD.com coverage area, the cheapest gas as of Monday was located at Costco (9919 Pulaski Highway), Sam’s Club (6410 Petrie Way), and BJ’s (4201 Wholesale Club Drive). The price per gallon for regular gas was $2.78 at each location, unchanged from last week.

Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels