NATIONAL AVERAGE FALLS FOR 8TH STRAIGHT WEEK, 11 STATES, 50,000 STATIONS BELOW $3

Prices fall to their lowest since February

For the eighth straight week, the nation’s average price of gasoline has declined, falling 4.6 cents from a week ago to $3.33 per gallon yesterday 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 down 24.8 cents from a month ago and 42.6 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 4.2 cents in the last week and stands at $4.34 per gallon— $1.01 lower than one year ago.

“As motorists turn their attention to Thanksgiving, they certainly can be thankful for the decline in gasoline prices, which has now reached eight straight weeks. GasBuddy counts 11 states where average prices are below $3 per gallon, with several more to join this week. Even in California, the nation’s most expensive gasoline average will fall below $5 in the next 48 hours,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Gasoline demand has struggled in recent weeks, falling not only due to the seasonal nature, as Americans drive less as the weather gets colder, but it appears there may be some economic headwinds entering the equation as well.”

OIL PRICES
Oil futures slipped slightly in early Monday trading after declining last week for a third straight week as concerns abound about a weakening outlook for global demand, a picture that has grown more grim. In early Monday trade, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil just moved into the red, down 5 cents to $77.12 per barrel, down from last Monday’s $81.48 per barrel start, and down from $83.93 two weeks ago. Brent crude was seen down a penny per barrel to $81.42 per barrel, down from $85.65 last Monday, and down from $89.04 two weeks ago. While OPEC slightly raised its forecast for 2023 oil demand growth to 2.5 million barrels per day, oil markets failed to be convinced the news was good. Meanwhile, risk slowly continues to drop as Israel and Hamas may be closer to a potential hostage exchange, deescalating fears that the violence would spread outside the immediate boundaries. In addition, CFTC data showed a decline in open interest in crude oil futures, while markets moved away from backwardation in the first quarter of 2024, helping to likely slow the bleeding in oil prices.

OIL AND REFINED PRODUCTS
Last week’s report from the Energy Information Administration was delayed as the agency underwent a system upgrade and will have two reports issued this week Wednesday. GasBuddy data showed a large drop in gasoline demand, but it remains to be seen what EIA data concludes.

FUEL DEMAND
According to GasBuddy demand data driven by its Pay with GasBuddy™ fuel card, U.S. retail gasoline demand saw a drop of 4.0% for the week ending October 28 (Sun-Sat). Broken down by PADD region, demand fell 3.7% in PADD 1, fell 4.9% in PADD 2, fell 4.8% in PADD 3, fell 2.9% in PADD 4, and fell 1.7% in PADD 5. GasBuddy models U.S. gasoline demand at 8.42 million barrels per day.

GAS PRICE TRENDS
The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $2.99 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $3.19, $3.29, $3.09, and $2.89 rounding out the top five most common prices.
The median U.S. gas price is $3.19 per gallon, unchanged from last week and about 14 cents lower than the national average.
The top 10% of stations in the country average $4.86 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $2.64 per gallon.
The states with the lowest average prices: Texas ($2.76), Mississippi ($2.80), and Georgia ($2.83).
The states with the highest average prices: California ($5.03), Hawaii ($4.69), and Washington ($4.44).

DIESEL PRICE TRENDS
The most common U.S. diesel price stood at $3.99 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $4.29, $4.49, $4.39, and $4.19 rounding out the top five most common prices.
The median U.S. diesel price is $4.24 per gallon, down 1 cent from last week and about 10 cents lower than the national average for diesel.
Diesel prices at the top 10% of stations in the country average $5.49 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $3.67 per gallon.
The states with the lowest average diesel prices: Texas ($3.78), Mississippi ($3.86), and Louisiana ($3.90).
The states with the highest average diesel prices: California ($5.96), Hawaii ($5.67), and Washington ($5.28).