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Nov 20, 2017 | Fuel
After holding steady for nine days, the national gas price average is slowly declining at the start of the Thanksgiving week. At $2.54, today’s national gas price average is two cents less than one week ago and 40 cents more than a year ago. However, the more expensive year-over-year pump price is not stopping Americans from hitting the road for holiday travel.
Locally, South Jersey motorists are paying an average of $2.51 per gallon of unleaded gas. This is a 4-cent decrease from last week ($2.55), but is 19 cents higher than this time last month ($2.32). Today’s price is also 37 more than this time last year ($2.14).
“Nearly 46 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles away from their home by car this holiday. Many will be thankful to see gas prices trending cheaper in cities across the country,” said Jeanette Casselano, AAA spokesperson. “Since 2014, the national gas price average has dropped one to five cents heading into the Thanksgiving week.”
Motorists can find gas for $2.50 or less at 55 percent of gas stations in the country.
Quick Stats
Mid-Atlantic and Northeast
Gas prices in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region either are seeing no change or small declines at the pump on the week with Delaware (-3 cents) seeing the largest decrease. Pennsylvania ($2.78), Washington, D.C. ($2.73), Connecticut ($2.71), New York ($2.69) and Rhode Island ($2.61) carry the most expensive gas in the region. At $2.31, Virginia touts the cheapest of all Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states.
Compared to last Thanksgiving week, motorists in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states are paying more at the pump, anywhere from 41 to 21 cents more. Pennsylvania pump prices have seen the biggest change year-over-year.
The relatively small changes in gas prices reflect the EIA’s data that the region had a small (525,000 bbl) build on the week. At nearly 53 million bbl, inventory levels for the region sit 3.2 million below this time last year. The year-over-year deficit is attributed to a lack of gasoline imports as of late.
Oil market dynamics
At the close of Friday’s formal trading session on the NYMEX, WTI increased $1.41 to settle at $56.55. The price per barrel of crude oil is likely to continue gaining throughout the week after EIA’s latest report showed that crude inputs into refineries, for production of products like gasoline, grew by 250,000 b/d on the week to land at 16.9 million b/d. On the flip side, crude oil inventories ballooned to 1.9 million bbl, but are still lower than where they were at this time last year. Increased oil inventories and domestic crude production, which reached an all-time high at 9.65 million b/d last week, have contributed to growth in crude exports as they rose to 1.12 million b/d.
After recent growth in the U.S. active oil rig count, last week’s count remained unchanged at 738. This news may give market observers hope that oil prices may push even higher ahead of OPEC’s meeting on November 30, in Vienna. However, recent growth in U.S. oil production may only underscore that other countries, such as the U.S., will continue to fill the void left by other oil producers. At the upcoming meeting, OPEC and non-OPEC member countries that are a part of the production reduction agreement to curtail supply may decide to extend the agreement beyond its current expiration date at the end of March 2018. All eyes will remain on key countries in the agreement, such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, to see if they signal a willingness to extend the agreement through the end of the year or deepen the production cuts.
Motorists can find current gas prices along their route with the free AAA Mobile app for iPhone, iPad and Android. The app can also be used to map a route, find discounts, book a hotel and access AAA roadside assistance. Learn more at AAA.com/mobile.