Prices at the pump dropped to a three-year low on Labor Day weekend and are expected to continue falling through November, reaching lows that would please drivers and favor Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
After reaching a peak of $3.69 per gallon in April, gas prices have been sliding down steadily in the past few months, making it a good summer for motorists. The national average for a gallon of regular was $3.333 as of September 1, down 15 cents from a month earlier and more than 50 cents from a year earlier, according to the latest data from the American Automobile Association (AAA).
The price per gallon ranged from a maximum of $4.645 in California to a minimum of $2.862 in Mississippi.
On Sunday night, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at fuel savings platform GasBuddy, wrote on X that the national average price of gas had fallen to $3.297 per gallon, “the lowest level since March and the lowest summer level since 2021.” Last week, De Haan told Newsweek that he expected gas prices to reach such record low over the weekend, just in time for many Americans’ last road trip of the summer.
“We’re exiting summer and with back to school happening, Americans aren’t road-tripping as much,” De Haan told Newsweek. “Demand has been weak for most of the summer as well, and we really haven’t seen much major refining disruption over the summer, so prices have been trending lower for several weeks, which is typically the case barring hurricanes or outside factors.”
Experts, including De Haan, expect gas prices to continue dropping in the U.S. in the coming weeks, as U.S. refineries seem to be handling heatwaves better than they did last year—when soaring temperatures forced Texas refineries to reduce operations—and this year’s hurricane season has so far been quieter than expected.
Read more at Newsweek.com
What Are Your Thoughts?
