After a relentless month’s long climb, U.S. national average gas prices have declined, falling 16 cents from a week ago to $3.403 per gallon on Monday as per AAA. Gas prices have now declined 43 cents over the past 30 days, and are only $1.01 cents higher than a year ago.
However, GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country show that gas prices are actually lower than where they sat 12 months ago.
“For the first time in 670 days, the national average price of gasoline has fallen below its year-ago level, dropping for the fourth straight week to its lowest level since January,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“Every state has again seen average gasoline prices drop in the last week, and it remains very possible the national average could fall under $3 per gallon by Christmas. There has also been a drop in diesel prices, which this week will fall back under $5 per gallon, and could soon thereafter fall to their lowest level since March,” de Haan added.
Diesel prices are also falling, having declined 13.6 cents in the last week and now standing at $5.06 per gallon as per AAA. However, diesel prices are still $1.46 cents higher than a year ago.
There are still some concerns, though, with GasBuddy noting uncertainty ahead as the price cap on Russian oil kicks in, and retaliation by Russia by holding back supplies and/or OPEC+ cutting production even deeper, which is likely to lead to higher crude prices.
So far, recession fears have remained a steady undercurrent in the oil markets recently for much of the current year, as have the tight supply situation that exists in the energy markets overall.
The International Monetary Fund has said that the world economy was headed for “stormy waters” as it downgraded its global growth projections for next year and also warned of a harsh worldwide recession if policymakers mishandled the fight against inflation. Low demand by China due to strict Covid-19 measures have also helped to subdue oil prices.
By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com
