Andy Close
For the third straight week, gas prices have risen in Western Pennsylvania.
This week, prices are seven cents higher at $3.581 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.
This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average $3.581
Average price during the week of October 18, 2021 $3.516
Average price during the week of October 26, 2020 $2.521
The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:
$3.548 Altoona
$3.499 Beaver
$3.645 Bradford
$3.625 Brookville
$3.560 Butler
$3.641 Clarion
$3.584 DuBois
$3.632 Erie
$3.508 Greensburg
$3.559 Indiana
$3.542 Jeannette
$3.531 Kittanning
$3.552 Latrobe
$3.655 Meadville
$3.668 Mercer
$3.524 New Castle
$3.552 New Kensington
$3.659 Oil City
$3.537 Pittsburgh
$3.602 Sharon
$3.547 Uniontown
$3.659 Warren
$3.538 Washington
Trend Analysis:
The recent surge in the price of gas may seem spooky this Halloween, but it’s not frightening people away from driving as demand continues to rise. The national average price for a gallon of gasoline rose six cents over the past week to hit $3.38. The pump price has gone up every day in the past 27 days, adding approximately 20 cents to the cost of a gallon of gas. The last time prices were this high was September 2014.
The recent rise in the pump price is due to higher demand coupled with a decline in stocks and elevated crude prices. Since the cost of oil accounts for more than half of the pump price, consumers will likely be paying more as long as crude prices remain high.
At the close of Friday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate increased by $1.26 to settle at $83.76. Crude prices increased overall after EIA’s weekly report revealed that total domestic crude inventories decreased slightly to 426.5 million barrels. Global oil production is still below pre-pandemic levels and the current storage level is approximately 13 percent lower than the level at this same time last year.
According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total domestic gasoline stocks decreased by 5.4 million barrels to 217.7 million barrels last week. However, gasoline demand increased from 9.19 million barrels per day to 9.63 million barrels per day.
Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at GasPrices.AAA.com.
