NOTTINGHAM, MD—For the second straight week, the nation’s average gas price has declined, falling 1.9 cents from a week ago and stands at $3.39 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 2.8 cents from a month ago and $1.30 per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has risen 0.1 cent in the last week and stands at $3.63 per gallon.

“With oil prices plunging nearly $10 from the recent peak of $85 per barrel, motorists will start to see gas prices decline nationwide, just in time for Thanksgiving, and the decline could stretch for several weeks,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “It’s not impossible- so long as oil prices hold near these levels or continue falling- that the national average could shed 15 to 30 cents per gallon over the coming weeks, while some areas like California could see declines of as much as 25 to 40 cents. While there’s reason to be optimistic that the peak of gas prices will soon be behind us, the decline in the price of oil is likely reflecting the possibility of a coordinated global release of oil from strategic reserves. If that doesn’t happen, oil could again rally. However, with COVID cases on the rise again reducing global demand, it does seem the most likely outcome will be a drop in gas prices that could last several weeks.”

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.19 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $3.29, $3.35, $3.09 and $3.39 rounding out the five most common prices. The average cost at the priciest 10% of stations stands at $4.41 per gallon, down 12 cents from a week ago, while the lowest 10% average $2.88 per gallon, down 4 cents from a week ago. The median U.S. price is $3.29 per gallon, unchanged from last week and about 10 cents lower than the national average.
The states with the lowest average prices: Oklahoma ($2.93), Texas ($2.98) and Arkansas ($3.01). The states with the highest priced states: California ($4.68), Hawaii ($4.30) and Nevada ($3.97).

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.  Sam’s Club located at 6410 Petrie Way (21237) checks in at $3.09 per gallon of regular gas while Costco located at 9919 Pulaski Highway (21220) checks in at $3.11 per gallon as of Monday.

Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels