Gas prices are a penny cheaper in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.845 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                         $3.845
Average price during the week of April 22, 2024                                              $3.852
Average price during the week of May 1, 2023                                                 $3.790

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

$3.819      Altoona
$3.892      Beaver
$3.898      Bradford
$3.764      Brookville
$3.846      Butler
$3.768      Clarion
$3.809      DuBois
$3.868      Erie
$3.780      Greensburg
$3.888      Indiana
$3.879      Jeannette
$3.865      Kittanning
$3.885      Latrobe
$3.865      Meadville
$3.918      Mercer
$3.767      New Castle
$3.703      New Kensington
$3.891      Oil City
$3.867      Pittsburgh
$3.831      Sharon
$3.894      Uniontown
$3.899      Warren
$3.848      Washington

Trend Analysis:
As domestic gasoline demand and the cost of oil remained steady over the past week, the national average is now two cents lower at $3.65. Today’s national average is 12 cents higher than a month ago and four cents higher than a year ago.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand fell from 8.66 to 8.42 million barrels per day last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks decreased by .6 million barrels to 226.7 million barrels.

At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate decreased by 55 cents to settle at $82.81. Oil prices dipped despite the EIA reporting crude oil inventories fell by 6.4 million barrels from the previous week. At 454 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are 4% below the five-year average for this time of year.