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Gas Prices Remain Stable for Another Week

Economy shaky but prices stable at the pump

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 17, 2009

Motorists taking to the road this weekend should see little change in fuel prices. The average price of a gallon of regular self-serve is $2.05, the same as it was last Friday, according to AAA.

A month ago consumers were paying an average of $1.92 for gas. A year ago, the average price was $3.418.

The average price of gas in California today is $2.340 a gallon. In New York, the average price is $2.185.

Alaska continues to have the most expensive gas at $2.542. The cheapest fuel today is in New Jersey, at $1.878 a gallon.

In its Summer Driving Outlook, released earlier this week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted gasoline prices would rise only slightly over the summer, reaching an average price of $2.30 a gallon.

Gas prices have remained fairly stable over the last few weeks for two primary reasons. First, inventories of crude oil and refined gasoline have remained above the seasonal average. Second, oil and gas traders have remained uncertain over the direction of the economy.

Gasoline prices skyrocketed last year, in part, because traders were convinced the global economy was on a path of rapid growth and would demand ever-large quantities of energy. When it became clear to many in August 2008 that the economy had slowed and a credit crisis was on the horizon, oil prices collapsed, taking down the price of gasoline with them.

Oil prices fell again in Thursday’s trading as the latest economic data from the U.S. government failed to settle uncertainty about the direction of the economy.

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