Gas prices have continued their fall, lowering in price every day since the record average high of $5.01 registered on June 14, 2022, falling 17 cents compared to last Monday to a national average of $4.35 per gallon, according to an American Automobile Association (AAA) news release.
The continued drop in price is because of low domestic demand for gasoline and oil prices that have stayed around the mid-$90s range per barrel.
“Consumers appear to be taking the pressure off their wallets by fueling up less,” Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson, said. “And there’s reason to be cautiously optimistic that pump prices will continue to fall, particularly if the global price for oil does not spike. But the overall situation remains very volatile.”
The release said new information from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said gas demand rose from 8.06 million barrels per day (b/d) to 8.52 b/d while the total domestic gasoline stock rose by 3.5 million barrels (bbl) to 228.4 million bbl. It also said if gas demand continues to stay low as gasoline stock increases, as well as a continued fall in crude oil prices, pump prices could continue to decline.
“At the close of Friday’s formal trading session, WTI decreased by $1.65 to settle at $94.70,” the AAA news release said. “Crude prices declined last week as the market continues to worry that weak demand, which was expected to remain robust throughout the summer, could continue to push prices lower. A strengthening dollar also helped to push crude prices lower last week. For this week, crude prices could continue to decline if demand concerns persist. Additionally, EIA reported that total domestic crude stocks decreased by 500,000 bbl to 426.6 million bbl, just over 13 million bbl lower than the storage level in mid-July 2021.”
AAA said Ohio had the 35th highest gas price of all of the states in the country plus Washington, D.C. The site said Ohio’s average price per gallon was $4.047 as of Thursday. That is a decrease from one week ago when the price per gallon was $4.270, according to AAA. One month ago, the average price was $4.846.
The lowest area gas prices, according to GasBuddy, on Friday morning, were:
• Wilmington — Lowest price was $4.01 at Shop & Go on W. Locust St.; average price in Wilmington was $4.07.
• Blanchester — Lowest price was $4.04 at UDF.
• Hillsboro — Lowest price was $3.82 at Murphy USA.
• Mount Orab — Lowest price was $4.09 at multiple places.
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
