Gas prices in region dip
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Western Pennsylvania gas prices dipped about four cents to $3.72 a gallon this week, according to AAA East Central.
This week’s Western Pennsylvania average price, which is calculated by AAA surveying prices at multiple gas stations in each of 22 communities throughout the region, is $3.724, with Washington County’s average just below that figure at $3.716.
The average price in Western Pennsylvania during the week of July 30, 2013, was $3.655.
Amid continuing geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa, American motorists are paying the lowest average retail price at the pump since March 17.
The trend of lower prices at the pump are because of U.S. refineries running near their highest rates since 2005, according to the Energy Information Administration, and domestic demand that was reported last week to have dropped back below nine million barrels per day.
The national average price for unleaded gasoline dropped every day in July and fell for 32 consecutive days, which is just short of the multiyear record of 36 straight daily declines registered last fall. Tuesday’s average of $3.52 per gallon is five cents less than one week ago and 11 cents less than the same date last year.
Over the last week consumers in 46 states and Washington, D.C., have seen the price at the pump continue to fall, led by drivers in several Midwestern states who are saving more than a dime per gallon, including Ohio (-12 cents). Drivers in nearly every state across the country continue to experience month-over-month and year-over-year savings at the pump. The price dropped in 47 states and Washington, D.C., over the past 30 days, including Kentucky (-35 cents), and Ohio (-28 cents).
The global oil market continues to closely monitor the situation abroad, including tensions between Ukraine and Russia, Hamas and Israel, and production issues in Libya because of civil unrest. These events have yet to impact global supply, but were cited by analysts as factors keeping a “floor” under crude oil prices and may limit how far U.S. pump prices can fall.