Oct 29, 2019 2 min read

Gasoline prices did drop across Western Pennsylvania this week – but only a little.

A gallon of unleaded self-serve dipped 2.4 cents this week, from $2.816 to $2.792, AAA East Central reported Monday afternoon. This has been a recent trend, as the regional average has declined 9.2 cents over the past five weeks, and is 24.7 cents cheaper than it was a year ago, at $3.039.

Washington’s average fell minimally this week – three-tenths of a cent, from $2.705 to $2.702. That is the sixth-lowest price among 22 Western Pennsylvania cities and towns monitored by AAA. Washington’s figure has dropped 27.0 cents over the past 11 weeks.

For the first time in many weeks, Altoona does not have the region’s cheapest gasoline. That designation belongs to Sharon, with an average of $2.644. Latrobe ($2.671) and New Castle ($2.674) rank second and third.

Altoona, which had the lowest average for 25 of the previous 26 weeks, fell to fourth. Uniontown ranks 18th at $2.872.

Bradford ($2.951) has the most expensive fuel, Warren ($2.940) the second priciest.

States in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region, which includes Pennsylvania, had the smallest price decreases of any region in the country – one cent to two cents. The Keystone State’s price dripped by a penny this week.

The region posted a 550,000-barrel draw on gasoline stocks this week, leaving it at 62.3 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration. That is a 5-million-barrel deficit compared with a year ago, EIA said. But refinery utilization inched up 1%, to 60%, helping to minimize price fluctuations. Prices are expected to go down or stabilize over the next week or so.

The national average dropped four cents to $2.60, despite increased demand and a decrease in stocks nationwide. That is the largest one-week decline since national prices began to rise more than six weeks ago. The U.S. average is five cents lower than a month ago and 21 cents less than a year ago.