Gas Prices Down Another Three Cents This Week

Global economic concerns have a silver lining for motorists

Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

Saturday, June 16, 2012

The price of gasoline continued to drift lower for another week, with the average price three cents a gallon less than it was a week ago.

The national average price of self-serve regular today is $3.524 per gallon, down from $3.555 last Friday, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Survey. Fuel prices are 20 cents a gallon lower than they were a month ago.

The average price of diesel fuel today is $3.795 per gallon, down from $3.850 a week ago.

“The multi-month slide in gas prices has been largely the result of bearish global economic news and declining crude oil prices, which have fallen more than $20 per barrel since the beginning of May,” said Avery Ash, AAA's manager of federal relations. “As a general rule-of-thumb, a one dollar per barrel decline in crude oil prices results in a decline in gas prices of about 2.5 cents per gallon. However, these lower gas prices at the pump usually lag cheaper crude prices by a week or two, as the less-expensive crude oil makes its way through the supply chain to consumers.”

Relief in the west

Among the states, prices dropped most sharply in states that have among the highest average pump orices. In both Washington State and Oregon the average price fell more than 15 cents a gallon during the week. The average price fell 12 and a half cents a gallon in California and, for the first time in memory, New York dropped out of the 10 states with the highest gasoline prices.

Meanwhile, the price decline was much slower in the Midwest with the average price in Michigan actually jumping more than a nickel a gallon. Eight of the ten states with the lowest average price are all in the southeast.

The states with the highest gas prices this week are:

Hawaii ($4.446)

Alaska ($4.350)

Washington State ($4.055)

Oregon ($4.015)

California ($4.035)

Michigan ($3.828)

Idaho ($3.776)

Nevada ($3.775)

Illinois ($3.761)

Connecticut ($3.744)

The states with the lowest gas prices this week are:

South Carolina ($3.098)

Mississippi ($3.175)

Alabama ($3.179)

Tennessee ($3.186)

Arkansas ($3.232)

Louisiana ($3.267)

Georgia ($3.279)

Virginia ($3.284)

Missouri ($3.287)

Oklahoma ($3.338)

Story provided by ConsumerAffairs.

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