The average gallon of gas nationwide is just $1.97 according to data from the app GasBuddy, falling 10.1 cents from last week alone.
GasBuddy compiles data submitted by users from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country. The average price of diesel, meanwhile, fell 5.5 cents to $2.61 per gallon.
Nearly 100,000 gas stations are selling gasoline under $2/gal today, with nearly 6,000 stations under $1.50/gal. The most common gas price across the country stands at $1.79 per gallon, down by 20 cents from a week ago, followed by $1.99, $1.89 and $1.69. The average cost at the priciest 10% of stations stands at $2.92 per gallon, down 11 cents from a week ago, while the lowest 10% average $1.43 per gallon, down 16 cents from a week ago. The median U.S. price is $1.86 per gallon, down 11 cents in the last week and about 11 cents lower than the national average.
In New York State, the lowest gas prices of $1.16 per gallon can be found in Irving, NY, near the westernmost part of the state. In the NY metro area, two Shell gas stations in Yonkers and the Bronx have gas at $1.89 per gallon.
“Today, we enter the 38th straight day the national average gas price has fallen, and the first week of the national average being under $2/gal for the first time in over four years as motorists park their cars and shelter in place, leading to an unprecedented drop never before seen in U.S. gasoline demand, causing prices to sink like a rock,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “With the nation continuing to be under siege from the coronavirus and millions staying parked at home, there’s quite a bit more downside that’s in the pipeline coming in the weeks ahead. We could easily see the national average fall 50 cents to a dollar per gallon, while pricey states like California will see the biggest drops to come, playing catch up to the drop that has seen twenty nine states average gas prices fall under $2. Motorists should continue to be vigilant if they need to fill their tanks- bring hand sanitizer and potentially wipes, but also shop around as the gap between station widens to historic levels.”
Crude oil prices began the new week extending recent declines after President Trump extended social distancing guidelines to April 30th, pushing back the earliest date that Americans may start to go back to work, thereby reducing gasoline demand for several more weeks. There’s been limited talk of a deal between Canada, the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia on any oil production cut, but last Friday Saudi Arabia indicated it had no intention of slowing down oil production, likely to lead to major pressure on producers in Canada and the U.S., and keeping oil prices from seeing anything resembling a rally. As of early Monday morning, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading down 96 cents per barrel to $20.55, down from $22.22 a week ago. Brent crude oil was trading down nearly double that, off $1.91 per barrel to $23.02, also down from $25.54 a week ago. Oil likely has little hope of rallying without some major production cut amongst producers, as global oil demand plunges under pressure from billions of people globally staying home to prevent the spread.
