The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. Monday morning was $2.29, an average of around $1.00 a gallon below the price on the same day a year ago. The price of gasoline has flattened out in the past week and is unchanged from last Monday.

In five states the average price is at or below $2 a gallon, and in all 50 states a gallon of regular gas now costs less than $3. The biggest week-over-week drop came in the West, where prices have been the highest.

California’s statewide average has dropped by 35 cents per gallon in the past month to $2.93. Rounding out the five states with the highest prices are Nevada at $2.89, Hawaii at about $2.88, Alaska at about $2.85 and Utah at $2.63.

The five states with the lowest pump prices, according to GasBuddy are South Carolina ($1.948), New Jersey ($1.954), Mississippi ($1.974), Alabama ($1.995) and Tennessee ($2.00).

Crude oil futures were up about 2.5% in the early afternoon Monday, at around $46.67, after hitting an intra-day high of $46.94. For some reason, traders are putting more store in a possible economic stimulus in China than in the unexpected cut to crude prices announced by Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

And these are big cuts. According to a report at Bloomberg, Saudi Aramco has cut the official November price for sales of medium grade crude to Asian and U.S. customers to a discount of $3.20 a barrel below the regional benchmark. The October discount was $1.30.

With the Saudis showing no signs of backing down from their low-pricing regime, and the beginning of U.S. refinery deliveries of cheaper winter grade fuel, there is little reason to think that any price increase in crude oil will last longer than briefly.

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