Gas prices are three cents lower in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.700 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                         $3.700
Average price during the week of August 19, 2024                                          $3.737
Average price during the week of August 28, 2023                                          $3.861

The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:      

$3.475      Altoona
$3.813      Beaver
$3.808      Bradford
$3.550      Brookville
$3.681      Butler
$3.590      Clarion
$3.728      DuBois
$3.692      Erie
$3.740      Greensburg
$3.743      Indiana
$3.738      Jeannette
$3.750      Kittanning
$3.744      Latrobe
$3.701      Meadville
$3.770      Mercer
$3.639      New Castle
$3.623      New Kensington
$3.717      Oil City
$3.722      Pittsburgh
$3.673      Sharon
$3.730      Uniontown
$3.799      Warren
$3.673      Washington

Trend Analysis:
The national average for a gallon of gas fell six cents over the past week to $3.35 – a price point not seen since early March. Lower crude prices are contributing to the drop in gas prices. Today’s national average is 16 cents less than a month ago and 47 cents less than a year ago.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand increased last week from 9.04 million barrels per day to 9.19. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks fell from 222.2 to 220.6 million barrels, but gasoline production increased, averaging 9.8 million barrels daily.

At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate fell by $1.24 to settle at $71.93 a barrel. The EIA reports that crude oil inventories decreased by 4.6 million barrels from the previous week. At 426.0 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 5% below the five-year average for this time of year.