Gas Prices Slightly Lower this Week in Western PA

Gas prices are a penny lower in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.522 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices

Western Pennsylvania Average: $3.522

Average price during the week of Dec. 27, 2021: $3.530

Average price during the week of Jan. 4, 2021: $2.518

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

$3.538 Altoona

$3.550 Beaver

$3.579 Bradford

$3.570 Brookville

$3.438 Butler

$3.517 Clarion

$3.516 DuBois

$3.540 Erie

$3.480 Greensburg

$3.538 Indiana

$3.538 Jeannette

$3.506 Kittanning

$3.524 Latrobe

$3.564 Meadville

$3.584 Mercer

$3.460 New Castle

$3.524 New Kensington

$3.579 Oil City

$3.530 Pittsburgh

$3.481 Sharon

$3.545 Uniontown

$3.580 Warren

$3.519 Washington

Trend Analysis

Gasoline prices barely budged over the past week across the country. Today’s national average of $3.28 is the same as last week, eight cents less than a month ago, and $1.03 more than a year ago.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total domestic gasoline stocks decreased slightly by 1.5 million barrels to 222.7 million barrels last week. Gasoline demand increased from 8.99 million b/d to 9.72 million b/d. Growing demand and tight supply would support more significant increases in pump prices, but fluctuations in the price of crude oil have helped to limit price increases.

At the close of yesterday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate increased by 87 cents to settle at $76.08. Despite demand concerns over the omicron variant of COVID-19, crude prices have increased since the EIA reported that total domestic oil stocks decreased by 3.6 million barrels last week to 420 million barrels.

Meanwhile, the pre-Christmas fire at the Exxon Mobil Corp plant in Baytown, Texas, is causing some reduced gasoline output. Recent reporting, however, indicates the damage was to a non-refining section of the complex. The plant is the nation’s fourth-biggest oil refinery, with the capacity to process 560,500 barrels per day of crude.