The nation’s average price of gasoline has fallen 0.9 cents over the last week and stands at $2.83 per gallon, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.
The national average is up 3.9 cents from a month ago and is 21.3 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.
The national average price of diesel rose 4.2 cents in the last week and stands at $3.585 per gallon.
Despite a recent surge and subsequent pullback in oil prices, U.S. gasoline prices remained largely stable over the past week, with more than half of states seeing prices edge lower. According to GasBuddy, declines were most pronounced in parts of the Midwest, where so-called “price-cycling” states such as Indiana and Ohio saw double-digit weekly drops after earlier increases.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the muted national movement reflects competing forces in the energy market. Oil prices climbed to their highest levels in months last week on geopolitical tensions, a weaker U.S. dollar, and supply concerns, but those pressures did not translate into broad price hikes at the pump.
“Just over half of states saw gas prices decline, led by Indiana, Ohio, and other price-cycling states that had previously seen prices jump but have since started to fall,” De Haan wrote in the GasBuddy blog.
“Meanwhile, prices are rising across much of the West Coast as the transition to summer gasoline begins, and attention turns to another refinery shutdown in California expected in April.”
Relaxed tensions in the Middle East
Oil markets began the new week retreating from last week’s highs, as tensions in the Middle East appeared to ease and supply disruptions showed signs of improvement. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading around $62 per barrel early Monday, down more than 4% on the day, while Brent crude slipped to the mid-$66 range. Analysts pointed to the restart of major oil fields in Kazakhstan and fewer U.S. supply interruptions as key factors behind the pullback.
U.S. inventory data painted a mixed picture. The Energy Information Administration reported that crude oil inventories fell by 2.3 million barrels and are now about 3% below seasonal norms. At the same time, gasoline and distillate inventories both rose modestly and remain above their five-year seasonal averages. Refinery utilization declined to just under 91%, even as implied gasoline demand jumped sharply, suggesting stronger consumer demand heading into late winter.
At the pump, motorists most commonly encountered prices around $2.99 per gallon nationwide. The median price stood at $2.72, slightly below the national average, highlighting the wide spread in prices across regions.
The cheapest states for gasoline were Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi, while Hawaii, California, and Washington remained the most expensive. Ohio and Indiana posted the largest weekly declines, while New Jersey and California saw the biggest increases.