The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell to $1.99 on Friday, the first time that’s happened since March of 2016. By Monday morning, that had fallen to $1.97, with the lowest prices in the country dipping to $1.60 or lower.
Gas prices have dropped below $2.00 a gallon in 30 states, and a few gas stations in some states have even dropped prices below $1.00 a gallon. According to a recent report from GasBuddy, an additional decline of $0.25 to $0.65 per gallon is possible for some locations in the days and weeks ahead, while prices on the West Coast could drop by $0.50 a gallon.
A combination of an oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and the coronavirus outbreak has slashed oil prices in the past month. The COVID-19 outbreak has caused the global economy to plummet as people are told to stay home so slow the spread of the disease.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil traded down about 5.6% Monday morning at $20.32, after dipping to $19.92 earlier in the day. International benchmark Brent crude traded down 5.7% at $26.34.
Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, commented last Friday:
World demand for oil has plummeted virtually overnight while domestic demand for gasoline continues to fall off a cliff with more states implementing shelter-in-place orders. Prices will continue to fall in the days ahead with currently no end in sight. Motorists need not be in any hurry to fill up, and those who do should be shopping around as prices will continue to race lower.
The five states where drivers are paying the most for gas are Hawaii ($3.48), California ($3.02), Washington ($2.65), Oregon ($2.60) and Nevada ($2.51). No other state is reporting an average of more than $2.50 a gallon.
The five states where gas is cheapest are Oklahoma ($1.58), Wisconsin ($1.60), Kentucky ($1.67), Ohio ($1.68) and Michigan ($1.68).
Compared to last month, the national average is down about 45 cents per gallon and, compared to last year, prices are down about almost 73 cents.
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