Gas prices are two cents lower in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.758 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                         $3.758
Average price during the week of July 15, 2024                                               $3.773
Average price during the week of July 24, 2023                                               $3.734

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

$3.651      Altoona
$3.840      Beaver
$3.899      Bradford
$3.574      Brookville
$3.665      Butler
$3.685      Clarion
$3.702      DuBois
$3.693      Erie
$3.762      Greensburg
$3.790      Indiana
$3.771      Jeannette
$3.852      Kittanning
$3.825      Latrobe
$3.748      Meadville
$3.924      Mercer
$3.711      New Castle
$3.606      New Kensington
$3.838      Oil City
$3.755      Pittsburgh
$3.698      Sharon
$3.807      Uniontown
$3.896      Warren
$3.736      Washington

Trend Analysis:
The national average for a gallon of gas fell two cents to $3.50 since last week. Lower oil costs and lower demand are helping to decrease gas prices. Today’s national average is still five cents more than a month ago but nine cents lower than a year ago.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand plummeted from 9.39 million barrels per day to 8.78 last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks fell from 231.7 to 229.7 million barrels.  Gasoline production took a slight hit, likely from Hurricane Beryl, dropping from an average of 10.3 million barrels daily to 9.5.

At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate rose $2.09 to settle at $82.85 a barrel. The EIA reports that crude oil inventories decreased by 4.9 million barrels from the previous week. At 440.2 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 5% below the five-year average for this time of year.