AAA Says Gas Prices Nationwide Are Dropping

That trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

Frederick, Md (KM) It’s good news for motorists. AAA says gasoline prices across the country have been trending downward in recent weeks, and that’s expected to continue for some time.

Spokeswoman Ragina Ali says this week, the average national price at the pump stands at $3.70 per gallon, a decrease of 11 cents since last week. In Maryland, the average price of gasoline is $3.43 per gallon, dropping by 10 cents since last week. And in Frederick, AAA says the average price at the pump is $3.38 per gallon, and that’s a decline of nine cents since last week.

“According to the Energy Information Administration, gas demand dropped significantly from 8.62 {million barrels per day} to 8.01 million barrels a day last week,”: says Ali.

Along with that, she says domestic gasoline stocks have increased substantially. “We’ve got a growing supply  amid low demand,  and that’s pushing pump prices down,” Ali says.

There’s also been a switch from the summer blend of gasoline to the fall blends. “There’s less demand. There’s growing supply. So all of those factors are actually boding quite well for drivers with lower gas prices,:” she says.

AAA says the war in the Middle East is so far having no impact on gasoline prices in the US. “That’s not unusual for geo-political and/or weather events—remember, we’re still in the hurricane season—it’s not unusual for geo-political or weather events to impact crude oil prices,” says Ali.

But AAA says it will monitor the events in the Middle East and their impact on crude oil prices.

By Kevin McManus