NOTTINGHAM, MD—For the first time in 2023, the nation’s average gas price has seen a weekly drop, falling 4.4 cents from a week ago to $3.44 per gallon this week, 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 17.5 cents from a month ago and 1.7 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 5.2 cents in the last week and stands at $4.60 per gallon.

“For the first time in 2023, the national average price of gasoline has seen a weekly decline, primarily thanks to a sharp and sudden drop in the price of oil,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

“While the decline in both gasoline and diesel prices is terrific, it’s not unusual to see prices falling in February, which tends to be the month with some of the lowest gasoline prices of the year thanks to seasonally weak demand. For diesel, we’re likely to see more declines, and potentially much more significant ones in the weeks ahead as imports of distillate have accelerated, leading to a sell-off. And, with warmer weather ahead, demand may struggle as well. However, especially for gasoline, high levels of coming maintenance and the eventual transition to summer gasoline could lead today’s declines to reverse down the road. For now, motorists should enjoy the decline, but be wary as we’re likely to eventually see increases again down the road,” De Haan added.

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.39 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $3.29, $3.19, $3.49, and $3.09 rounding out the top five most common prices.  The median U.S. gas price is $3.35 per gallon, down 4 cents from last week and about 9 cents lower than the national average.  The top 10% of stations in the country average $4.42 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $2.95 per gallon.  The states with the lowest average prices: Oklahoma ($3.05), Texas ($3.06), and Mississippi ($3.10).
The states with the highest average prices: Hawaii ($4.88), California ($4.54), and Washington ($4.04).

See previous gas price reports here

In the NottinghamMD.com coverage area, the cheapest gas this week could be found at the following locations:

[EDITOR’S NOTE: No Nottingham-area gas stations were included in this week’s report from GasBuddy.]

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