Gas prices are sinking “like a rock.”
According to GasBuddy.com, the national average gas price has fallen 10 cents in just a week down to $1.97 a gallon.
AAA today is reporting the national average is $2.01 a gallon.
“Today, we enter the 38th straight day the national average gas price has fallen, and the first week of the national average being under $2/gal for the first time in over four years as motorists park their cars and shelter in place, leading to an unprecedented drop never before seen in U.S. gasoline demand, causing prices to sink like a rock,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.
“With the nation continuing to be under siege from the coronavirus and millions staying parked at home, there’s quite a bit more downside that’s in the pipeline coming in the weeks ahead. We could easily see the national average fall 50 cents to a dollar per gallon, while pricey states like California will see the biggest drops to come, playing catch up to the drop that has seen [29] states average gas prices fall under $2. Motorists should continue to be vigilant if they need to fill their tanks- bring hand sanitizer and potentially wipes, but also shop around as the gap between station widens to historic levels.”
The national average gas price has gone down 10 cents in the last week, and we could see another 50 cent drop in the weeks ahead. More from our analysts: https://t.co/FIqHxEogJ0 pic.twitter.com/3dLKHnqvcZ
— GasBuddy (@GasBuddy) March 30, 2020
GasBuddy reported that crude oil prices also continued to decline after President Trump “extended social distancing guidelines to April 30 pushing back the earliest date that Americans may start to go back to work, thereby reducing gasoline demand for several more weeks.
“There’s been limited talk of a deal between Canada, the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia on any oil production cut, but last Friday Saudi Arabia indicated it had no intention of slowing down oil production, likely to lead to major pressure on producers in Canada and the U.S., and keeping oil prices from seeing anything resembling a rally. As of early Monday morning, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading down 96 cents per barrel to $20.55, down from $22.22 a week ago. Brent crude oil was trading down nearly double that, off $1.91 per barrel to $23.02, also down from $25.54 a week ago. Oil likely has little hope of rallying without some major production cut amongst producers, as global oil demand plunges under pressure from billions of people globally staying home to prevent the spread.”
The lowest price for gas in central Pa. today is $1.79 a gallon at Costco in Lower Paxton Twp., Sunoco at North Front Street and Houser Road and Sam’s Club in Swatara Twp.
According to AAA, the Environmental Protection Agency has extended the deadline for the switch to summer-blend gasoline from May 1 to May 20 because of the amount of winter blend that is leftover.
“Delaying the switch-over to summer-blend gasoline will contribute to sustained lower prices as summer-blend is more expensive to produce,” said Jeanette Casselano, AAA spokesperson.
MORE CORONAVIRUS NEWS
- Gov. Wolf extends stay-at-home order to four more counties.
- Pa. school closings extended to indefinite period of time.
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