NOTTINGHAM, MD—The nation’s average gas price has increased 0.6 cents from a week ago and stands at $3.38 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 19.5 cents from a month ago and $1.26 per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has risen 3.7 cents in the last week and stands at $3.62 per gallon.

“The jump in gas prices that started nearly a month ago is finally running out of steam for the time being, as oil prices have stabilized. Yet, some areas of California are still at or near all-time record highs for prices,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “While California’s high prices will not become a nationwide norm, prices there will likely remain elevated due to refinery issues amidst the surge of rain and other refinery kinks. For most motorists, gas prices are likely to greatly slow their recent ascent, and we could even see some small declines in the week ahead. OPEC is planning to meet next week, and while it doesn’t seem likely there will be any boost in oil output, its meeting and comments could easily drive the market up or down. The odds remain high that gas prices will remain near today’s elevated levels going into the holidays, barring additional OPEC supply.”

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.19 per gallon, down 10c/gal from last week, followed by $3.29, $3.09, $3.39 and $2.99 rounding out the five most common prices. The average cost at the priciest 10% of stations stands at $4.34 per gallon, up 7 cents from a week ago, while the lowest 10% average $2.93 per gallon, up 1 cent from a week ago. The median U.S. price is $3.26 per gallon, down a penny from last week and about 12 cents lower than the national average. The states with the lowest average prices: Oklahoma ($2.98), Texas ($3.03) and Arkansas ($3.05). The states with the highest priced states: California ($4.58), Hawaii ($4.26) and Nevada ($3.94).

In the NottinghamMD.com coverage area, the cheapest gas as of Monday was located at BP (8809 Belair Road, 21236), with regular gas selling for $2.97 per gallon, unchanged from last week.  Carroll Motor Fuels (9525 Pulaski Highway, 21220) has regular gasoline at $3.13 per gallon, as of Monday, unchanged from last week.

Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels