The 100 gasoline stations in the United States with the lowest prices range from $1.11 to as high as $1.33 for a gallon of regular. All but two of them are in Arizona. The national average is $1.88 a gallon, and rising most days lately.

Most of the stations with low gas prices in Arizona are in or near Tucson. A few are in Phoenix. The geographic spread of prices is not strange. Arizona has the lowest gas price in the country, according to GasBuddy, at $1.58 a gallon. The highest is in Hawaii at $2.56.

Gas prices are made up primarily of three things. The first is the price of oil. The next is proximity to refineries, and the last is state gas taxes and levies.

Although oil prices have recovered from under $29 a month ago to $38, they are still down by nearly half from just over a year ago. Lack of demand in major nations such as China may cap or drive prices down. Saudi Arabia continues to say it wants to maintain its market share of the global market. To do this, it will need to keep its production high. Oil from Iran has just hit Europe, after being blocked by years of sanctions.

Arizona does not have refineries of its own. However, it is relatively close to the huge cluster of refineries just south of Houston on the Gulf of Mexico, near to deepwater production platforms.

Arizona also has among the lowest amount for gas taxes and levies at $0.374 a gallon, compared to the national average of $0.480, according to the American Petroleum Institute. So, the contribution of the level of tax to total gas price is significant.

Based on all these factors, even if gas prices rise, Arizona’s will stay near the bottom.

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