Gas Prices Dip Nearly Three Cents a Gallon In Last Week

Despite lessened concerns about the economy, gasoline prices at the pump are still giving up some of their recent gains, falling almost three cents a gallon in the last seven days.

The national average price of self-serve regular today is $3.420 per gallon, down from $3.448 last Friday, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Survey. That's about three cents a gallon more than consumers were paying a month ago.

While gas prices are going down, however, diesel fuel is going up. The average price of diesel fuel today is $3.896 per gallon, up from $3.862 a week ago.

Avery Ash, manager of Federal Relations for AAA, credits the lower gas prices to a recently-strengthening dollar, which has pushed crude oil prices lower on world markets.

“Oil futures are priced in U.S. dollars, and as the currency strengthens relative to those abroad, the effective purchasing power of those holding foreign currencies weakens,” Ash said. “As this happens, oil futures become a less attractive investment which exerts downward pressure on prices.”

On the supply front, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports U.S. stockpiles of crude oil rose by 1.8 million barrels in the last week. Gasoline supplies rose by 1.4 million barrels.

Price declines appeared to be evenly spread this week among states with expensive gas and those where fuel was cheaper. Once again, the states with the most expensive gas are clustered in the northwest portion of the country.

The states with the most expensive gas this week are:

• Hawaii ($4.182)
• Alaska ($4.032)
• California ($3.843)
• Washington ($3.787)
• Oregon ($3.748)
• Connecticut ($3.705)
• New York ($3.689)
• Nevada ($3.611)
• Montana ($3.574)
• North Dalota ($3.556)

 The states with the least expensive gas this week are:

• Missouri ($3.185)
• South Carolina ($3.205)
• New Mexico ($3.237)
• Texas ($3.285)
• Tennessee ($3.244)
• Mississippi ($3.267)
• Alabama ($3.273)
• Louisiana ($3.275)
• Oklahoma ($3.285)
• Virginia ($3.292)