U.S. gasoline prices continued to slide into the weekend, despite an abrupt upturn in oil prices Oct. 13. That was a reaction to continued violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip in the Middle East.
What's not clear is if the price at the pump will follow oil prices higher in the week ahead.
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The U.S. national average gas price was $3.600 per gallon Oct. 16, the American Automobile Association said, down slightly from $3.609 a gallon on Oct. 14 and 28 cents, or 7.2%, from $3.881 on Sept. 18. That was the highest price this year.
The Oct. 16 decline was the 18th decline in a row and the 26th in the 28 days since Sept. 18. The AAA national average has fallen 28 cents a gallon, or 7.2%, in that time. For comparison, on Oct. 16, 2022, the national average was $3.888 a gallon.
The gas-price decline has mirrored the trend of crude oil prices. West Texas intermediate, the benchmark U.S. crude, had a closing peak of $93.68 a 42-gallon barrel on Sept. 27. That was a 16.7% gain on the year.
But crude then fell 11.5% through Oct. 12.
On Oct. 13, however, oil markets abruptly surged, with WTI closing up 5.8% to $87.69. Clearly, the price jump was a reaction to worries about escalating violence between Hamas and Israel.
Prices, however, returned to sliding on Oct, 16, with WTI dropping $1.03 to $86.66 a barrel.
The most expensive state for gasoline was California at $5.621 a gallon on Oct. 16. Mono County had the highest retail price at $6.772 a gallon. Georgia had the lowest state-wide price on Oct. 16: $3.065. The lowest county price was Ware County, at $2.746 per gallon.
AAA said counties in nine states were reporting prices dropping below $3 a gallon.
The oil-price jump on Oct. 13 boosted oil stocks. Chevron (CVX) -) was up 1.8% to $165.06, third among stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) -). ExxonMobil (XOM) -) added 3.2% to $109.87.
Energy stocks were generally higher in Oct. 16 trading.
