Business, Sci-Tech

Gas prices fall over Christmas, remain $1.09 per gallon higher than a year ago

NOTTINGHAM, MD—For the seventh straight week, the nation’s average gas price has fallen, declining 4.3 cents from a week ago and stands at $3.25 per gallon on Monday according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

The national average is down 11.1 cents from a month ago and $1.09 per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 2.6 cents in the last week and stands at $3.56 per gallon.

“Nearly every state saw average gasoline prices decline last week as millions of Americans took to the road for holiday travel, with the national average now nearly 20 cents per gallon lower than in early November. While the fall in prices is welcomed, we set an ugly new record for the holiday- it was the most expensive Christmas Day we’ve ever seen by two tenths of a penny,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.

“The average on Christmas was $3.264 per gallon, just a fraction of a penny higher than Christmas Day 2013 which saw the national average at $3.262 per gallon,” De Haan added. “Motorists shouldn’t get too worked up about it – the downward direction in gas prices should persist into this week in most areas. However, gas prices are likely to jump in the Great Lakes due to a behavior called price cycling, caused by a rise in the wholesale price of gasoline against a backdrop of prices in the region that have now fallen under replacement cost. This will trigger a likely jump in gas prices in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky very soon.”

The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $2.99 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $3.19, $3.09, $2.89 and $3.29 rounding out the five most common prices. The average cost at the priciest 10% of stations stands at $4.31 per gallon, down 8 cents from a week ago, while the lowest 10% average $2.71 per gallon, down 3 cents from a week ago. The median U.S. price is $3.13 per gallon, a decline of 4 cents from last week and about 12 cents lower than the national average. The states with the lowest average prices: Oklahoma ($2.83), Texas ($2.83) and Arkansas ($2.89). The states with the highest priced states: California ($4.62), Hawaii ($4.28) and Nevada ($3.82).

In the NottinghamMD.com coverage area, the cheapest gas as of Monday could be found at the following locations:

$2.91 per gallon
Costco
9919 Pulaski Highway
Middle River, MD 21220

$2.91 per gallon
Sam’s Club
6410 Petrie Way Road
Rosedale, MD 21237

$2.91 per gallon
BJ’s Wholesale Club
4201 Wholesale Club Drive
Nottingham, MD 21236

$2.97 per gallon
BP
8809 Belair Road
Nottingham, MD 21236

Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels

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