The Shadow
RICHMOND — The national gas price average is $2.18, which is the same price as last week, 5 cents less than a month ago, but 47 cents cheaper than a year ago.
On the past week, most states saw gas prices decrease or moderate fluctuations by a penny or two. A continued drop in demand will likely lead to pump prices continuing to decrease.
“Low demand, even as gasoline stocks decline, has helped pump prices decline or hold steady on the week,” said Jeanette Casselano, AAA spokeswoman. “That is likely to continue into the fall as the season sees fewer road trips, especially amid the pandemic.”
The latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) report measures demand at 8.52 million b/d, which is a slight uptick from the previous week’s 8.48 million b/d. However, the small increase is still 850,000 b/d lower than last year.
Over the past week, 10 states with the biggest changes in gas prices were: The nation’s top 10 largest weekly changes: Michigan (+10 cents), Ohio (+9 cents), Kentucky (+8 cents), Indiana (+6 cents), New Mexico (+5 cents), South Carolina (+3 cents), North Carolina (+3 cents), Florida (-3 cents), Illinois (+2 cents) and Idaho (+2 cents).
The nation 10 cheapest gasoline markets were: Mississippi ($1.83), Texas ($1.85), Louisiana ($1.87), Missouri ($1.87), Arkansas ($1.87), Oklahoma ($1.89), Alabama ($1.89), Tennessee ($1.92), South Carolina ($1.93) and Kansas ($1.96).
At the close of last week’s formal trading, West Texas Intermediate crude decreased by 6 cents to settle at $40.25. Domestic crude prices declined due to increased market fears as Coronavirus infections increase worldwide, which could impact crude demand.
Before market fears emerged, there was some market optimism that domestic demand could be starting to stabilize after EIA’s latest weekly report revealed that total domestic crude inventories decreased by 1.6 million bbl to 494.4 million bbl.
