The average price of gasoline across Western Pennsylvania is nine cents higher this week at $2.557 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                  $2.557
Average price during the week of November 23, 2020                              $2.466
Average price during the week of December 2, 2019                                $2.874

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

$2.649      Altoona
$2.610      Beaver
$2.618      Bradford
$2.621      Brookville
$2.559      Butler
$2.611      Clarion
$2.481      DuBois
$2.639      Erie
$2.433      Greensburg
$2.650      Indiana
$2.400      Jeannette
$2.586      Kittanning
$2.565      Latrobe
$2.643      Meadville
$2.627      Mercer
$2.305      New Castle
$2.621      New Kensington
$2.654      Oil City
$2.518      Pittsburgh
$2.404      Sharon
$2.570      Uniontown
$2.658      Warren
$2.382      Washington

Trend Analysis:
Following the Thanksgiving holiday, the national gas price average is two cents more expensive this week at $2.12. Today’s average is two cents cheaper than last month, and 46 cents cheaper than last year.

Across the country, motorists in nearly 30 states are paying more at the pump on the week with states along the I-95 corridor seeing the largest jump: Delaware (+15 cents), Maryland (+8 cents), Pennsylvania (+7 cents), New Jersey (+6 cents) and North Carolina (+6 cents).

Despite the increase at the pump, U.S. gasoline stocks increased and demand decreased to a five-month low, according to the Energy Information Administration’s reports for the week ending November 20. Motorists will likely see prices decrease in the days and weeks ahead, especially as demand decreases.

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate decreased by 18 cents to settle at $45.53. While domestic crude prices decreased that day, due to increasing coronavirus infection rates, crude prices grew overall last week amid increased news of a potential vaccine. Prices were also bolstered by EIA’s weekly report revealing that total domestic crude inventories fell by 800,000 barrels to 488.7 million barrels last week.

Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at GasPrices.AAA.com.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 76 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members.  News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com.  Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.