As gasoline prices rise a little, as crude prices have been trending higher, the price of an average gallon of regular, about $1.72 nationwide, has hit levels under $1.50 in some states and under $1.40 in a couple of cities. But the lowest gas price in the United States is 99 cents in Burnet, Texas.
The Exxon station on State Highway 29 is selling gas at this price in this town about 30 miles northwest of Austin.
The price is an anomaly. The next 15 stations on the lowest price gas list are mostly in Garden City, Kansas, with a few in Oklahoma, according to GasBuddy. Gas prices in those stations range from $1.13 to $1.19.
Oklahoma and Kansas have one thing in common. They have the two of the three lowest state gas prices in the United States. Oklahoma’s average is $1.42 and Kansas prices average $1.48. Missouri’s average also is $1.48.
Despite a 13% spike in the price of crude since last Friday, oil remains near multiyear lows, having tumbled to below $31 a barrel again Thursday. The price of crude has a 52-week low of $26.05 and 52-week high of $65.69. An agreement among several producing nations to cap production at January levels is not helping boost prices significantly. Demand is slack worldwide, to some degree because of the slowdown in the Chinese economy.
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Another contributor to gas prices is proximity to gas refineries. Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri are close to several large ones, which include a huge cluster south of Houston on the Gulf of Mexico.
Finally, state and federal taxes affect gas prices from state to state. According to the American Petroleum Institute, the national average is $0.48 per gallon. Oklahoma is near the bottom of the list at $0.354, as is Missouri at $0.357. 24/7 Wall St. recently analyzed states with the highest and lowest gas taxes.
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