Gas prices are a penny cheaper in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.820 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                         $3.820
Average price during the week of May 6, 2024                                                 $3.835
Average price during the week of May 15, 2023                                               $3.730

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

$3.818      Altoona
$3.895      Beaver
$3.877      Bradford
$3.684      Brookville
$3.826      Butler
$3.775      Clarion
$3.765      DuBois
$3.841      Erie
$3.704      Greensburg
$3.888      Indiana
$3.851      Jeannette
$3.860      Kittanning
$3.866      Latrobe
$3.865      Meadville
$3.924      Mercer
$3.759      New Castle
$3.656      New Kensington
$3.873      Oil City
$3.835      Pittsburgh
$3.748      Sharon
$3.866      Uniontown
$3.899      Warren
$3.795      Washington

Trend Analysis:
Gas prices continue to trend lower with the national average falling by four cents over the past week to $3.61. Tepid pre-Memorial Day domestic demand and oil costs below $80 a barrel are contributing to lower prices. Today’s national average is two cents less than a month ago but eight cents more than a year ago.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand rose modestly from 8.62 million barrels per day to 8.79 last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks increased by nearly 1 million barrels to 228 million barrels.

At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate increased by 61 cents to settle at $78.99 a barrel. Prices rose as the EIA reported that crude oil inventories had decreased by 1.4 million barrels from the previous week. At 459.5 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 3% below the five-year average for this time of year.