The national average price of gas is on a steady decline, falling for 35 days in a row.
What Happened: With data collated from more than 11 million individual price reports spanning over 150,000 gas stations nationwide, GasBuddy reported that prices have decreased by 20.66 cents from one week ago to $4.467 on Wednesday.
“We’ve seen the national average price of gasoline decline for a fifth straight week, with the pace of recent declines accelerating to some of the most significant we’ve seen in years,” said Patrick De Hann, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“This trend is likely to reach a sixth straight week, with prices likely to fall again this week. Barring major hurricanes, outages, or unexpected disruptions, I forecast the national average to fall to $3.99/gal by mid-August.”
Although $3.99 a gallon of gas may seem out of reach, De Hann believed thousands of stations will begin pricing in relief at the pump. This is because the average price has been falling for several weeks, and more than 25,000 stations throughout the nation are currently offering gas at $3.99 or less.
The five most common prices were $4.19, $4.39, $4.29 and $4.49. States with current prices — Louisiana ($4.02), Alabama ($4.04), Tennessee ($4.04), and Arkansas ($4.05) — should be the next to join the $3.99 club, according to De Hann.
The median price in the U.S. is $4.39 a gallon, which is about 12 cents less than the national average and a decrease of 16 cents from the previous week.
Checking Oil: West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude oil bottomed on July 14 at $95.78 per barrel and has since rebounded to around $102.85 — still trading 1.65% lower from one month ago. Brent Crude oil bottomed on the same day, at $95.79 but has since jumped back to $105.67 per barrel. Brent Crude is still trading 1.52% lower than one month ago.
As new economic data enters the market and sentiment regarding the global economy change, oil prices continue to be pushed in many directions. A material increase in oil production does not appear to have resulted from President Joe Biden's weekend visit to Saudi Arabia — something that could have led to an easing of global supply pressures.
Photo: Dean Drobot via Shutterstock
