Gas prices are a penny cheaper in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.742 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.
This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average $3.742
Average price during the week of July 22, 2024 $3.758
Average price during the week of July 31, 2023 $3.863
The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:
$3.599 Altoona
$3.838 Beaver
$3.896 Bradford
$3.475 Brookville
$3.641 Butler
$3.671 Clarion
$3.691 DuBois
$3.660 Erie
$3.745 Greensburg
$3.785 Indiana
$3.770 Jeannette
$3.866 Kittanning
$3.827 Latrobe
$3.718 Meadville
$3.926 Mercer
$3.687 New Castle
$3.595 New Kensington
$3.830 Oil City
$3.748 Pittsburgh
$3.701 Sharon
$3.803 Uniontown
$3.898 Warren
$3.703 Washington
Trend Analysis:
Barely budging since June, the national average for a gallon of gas has remained stable over the past week at $3.50. The national average has hovered around $3.50 per gallon since June 26th, and oil costs are helping keep gas prices steady. In April, a barrel of oil was in the upper $80’s, but today, it is $10 a barrel cheaper. Today’s national average is a penny more than a month ago but 24 cents less than a year ago.
According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand rose unexpectedly from 8.78 million barrels per day to 9.45 last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks fell from 233 to 227.4 million barrels. Gasoline production rose last week, averaging 10.2 million barrels per day.
At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate rose 63 cents to settle at $77.59 a barrel. The EIA reports that crude oil inventories decreased by 3.7 million barrels from the previous week. At 436.5 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 5% below the five-year average for this time of year.