Gas Prices Decrease in Western Pa.; Crude Oil Prices Climbing Again

Gas prices are one cent lower in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.516 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

Residents in Warren County are paying an average of $3.58 per gallon.

This week’s average prices:

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average: $3.516

Average price during the week of January 4, 2022: $3.522
Average price during the week of January 11, 2021: $2.605

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

$3.530 Altoona
$3.546 Beaver
$3.579 Bradford
$3.385 Brookville
$3.441 Butler
$3.515 Clarion
$3.429 DuBois
$3.539 Erie
$3.480 Greensburg
$3.539 Indiana
$3.527 Jeannette
$3.500 Kittanning
$3.486 Latrobe
$3.559 Meadville
$3.583 Mercer
$3.436 New Castle
$3.524 New Kensington
$3.579 Oil City
$3.529 Pittsburgh
$3.456 Sharon
$3.546 Uniontown
$3.580 Warren
$3.509 Washington

Trend Analysis:

Gasoline prices edged upward by two cents last week to hit $3.30 per gallon, driven primarily by the higher price of crude oil, which is closing in on $80 a barrel.

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate decreased by 56 cents to settle at $78.90. Although prices moved lower on Friday due to contract pricing fluctuations at the beginning of the year and demand concerns over the COVID-19 omicron variant, crude prices increased overall last week amid conflict in Central Asia and after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that total domestic crude stocks decreased by 2.1 million barrels to 417.9 million barrels.

According to new data from the EIA, total domestic gasoline stocks rose by 10.1 million barrels to 232.8 million barrels last week. On the other hand, gasoline demand decreased from 9.72 million barrels per day to 8.17 million barrels per day. Typically, pump prices decline due to lower gas demand and a rise in total stocks, but continued growth in the price of crude oil has helped to elevate pump prices.

Today’s national average of $3.30 is three cents less than a month ago and $1.01 more than a year ago.