Gasoline Price Plunge Continues

Energy

Published: September 8, 2015 1:15 pm

Last Updated: April 27, 2020 9:54 pm

As gasoline demand declines following the Labor Day holiday weekend, U.S. drivers should expect to see prices continue to fall, if not steadily at least on a steadily downward slope. In addition to lower demand now that vacation driving is mostly behind us, U.S. refineries will begin switching to a winter fuel blend that is cheaper to make and, consequently, cheaper at the neighborhood gas pump.

In the past week, the price of a gallon of regular gasoline fell nearly seven cents to $2.391, as of Tuesday morning according to GasBuddy. The biggest drop came in the Midwest, where BP restarted its refinery two weeks ago, sending gasoline prices down by 17 cents a gallon in Indiana, 16 cents in Ohio, 14 cents in Illinois and 13 cents in Missouri and Michigan. In all, 48 of the 50 states saw a drop in gasoline prices over the week (exceptions were Delaware and Utah).

The U.S. national average now stands about 22 cents a gallon lower than just a month ago and $1.05 a gallon less than a year ago. More than 10% of the country’s gas stations are selling regular gas at $1.99 a gallon. At this time last year, just 0.2% of U.S. gas stations were selling gas for less than $3 a gallon.

GasBuddy’s senior petroleum economist, Patrick DeHaan said:

Not only did Labor Day weekend see millions of Americans take to the road and spend far less than they did last year at the pump, but a growing number of them were able to fill up at under $2/gallon for the summer’s last hurrah. … The Midwest led the biggest decliners, again, and prices in some of these states now stand a staggering dollar per gallon lower than they were just last month after the BP refinery issue led to spikes, a stunning and quick reversal. As we begin to near the terminus for summer gasoline, I expect prices to continue moving lower, with our projections aiming at a sub-$2/gal average by Christmas — or perhaps even earlier.

While the national average stands at $2.39 today, the most common price across the country stood at nearly 20 cents lower: $2.199 per gallon.

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