NOTTINGHAM, MD—For the first time in four weeks, the nation’s average gas price has declined, falling 5.4 cents from a week ago to $3.86 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 20.6 cents from a month ago and 56.6 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has risen 18.7 cents in the last week and stands at $5.26 per gallon.

“After a sharp rise in the national average over the last few weeks, we’ve seen an abrupt, yet expected decline as refinery issues have eased in the West and Great Lakes, overpowering some increases elsewhere. Though at the same time, diesel prices have soared,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “We’ll see a continued sharp drop in gas prices on the West Coast, including areas like Las Vegas and Phoenix, which are supplied by refiners in California, as refinery outages have been addressed. The Great Lakes will see prices drift lower as BP’s Whiting refinery is soon to complete maintenance. In addition, oil prices have cooled off slightly after OPEC+’s decision to cut production, and that should slow increases elsewhere. Diesel and heating oil prices are likely to continue to rise as extremely low inventories of middle of the barrel products like these two push prices higher.”

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.39 per gallon, up 10 cents versus last week, followed by $3.49, $3.59, $3.29 and $3.99 rounding out the top five most common prices. The states with the lowest average prices: Georgia ($3.22), Texas ($3.26) and Mississippi ($3.31). The states with the highest average prices: California ($5.97), Alaska ($5.41) and Oregon ($5.30).

See previous gas price reports here

In the NottinghamMD.com coverage area gas prices have risen, with most stations reporting prices about $0.10/gallon higher than last week.  The cheapest gas as of Monday could be found at the following locations:

$3.43 per gallon
Costco
9919 Pulaski Highway
Middle River, MD 21220

$3.43 per gallon
Sam’s Club
6410 Petrie Way Rd.
Rosedale, MD 21237

$3.43 per gallon
BJ’s
4201 Wholesale Club Drive
Nottingham, MD 21236

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