Average Gas Prices Are Below $2. A Few Stations Are Even Selling For Under $1

[steven36]

Gas prices are dropping — to less than $1 per gallon in a few locations — but most Americans aren't supposed to go anywhere. That's the irony of the coronavirus lockdown.

 

The national average price for a gallon of gas is now $1.997, according to AAA, and it's expected to drop further in the next few weeks — to $1.75 or even lower.

 

Prices vary across the country. In two states, Hawaii and California, the average price at the pump is still above $3. But drivers are paying less than $1.99 at more than two-thirds of the gas stations in the U.S., according to AAA data. In Oklahoma, the average price is $1.55.

 

Individual gas stations can go even cheaper — multiple stations across the U.S. have sold a gallon of gas for less than $1, at least temporarily, according to GasBuddy.

 

"In the last week, 99 cent prices have shown up at various times in Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Missouri and more could join in the days and weeks ahead," the price-tracking site said.

 

 

 

Notes Prices are not adjusted for inflation.

Gasoline is cheap because crude oil prices have plummeted. The coronavirus pandemic has ground much of the world economy to a halt, creating a stunning drop in oil demand. And there's an increasing supply because of a price war between major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia. Both developments have sent oil prices down to around $20 a barrel.

 

"When you combine cheap crude oil with diminishing demand because everyone's staying at home and not driving," says AAA spokeswoman Jeanette Casselano, "you have cheap gas prices, which was what we're seeing across the country."

 

But most drivers aren't feeling a big boost to their budgets because of cheap gas, as the activity of ordinary life has ground nearly to a halt under shelter-in-place orders and social distancing.

If you're not driving your car very often, AAA notes, try to keep your tank full or nearly full and consider adding a fuel stabilizer.

 

Source: NPR

[TheEmpathicEar]

Hmm, I don't own a car. Too bad. It's a cheaper time to be driving - coronavirus aside. 

[steven36]

Gas prices fall below $1 a gallon at a few Minnesota gas stations

 

 

Gasoline prices continue to plummet across the U.S. — including in Minnesota, where a few places were selling 99-cent gas Wednesday — as the coronavirus slows the demand for oil and lockdowns curtail driving and keep people home.

 

Minnesota is among 29 states seeing average prices less than $2 a gallon, according to GasBuddy, a travel and navigation app.

 

On Wednesday afternoon, two Lakeville stations had gas under $1 a gallon. At Hi Hi Market and Gas, along 210th Street West near Hernon Lane, the price was 95 cents. It was 2 cents more at the Kwik Trip at Dodd Boulevard and Kenwood Trail.

 

Several places were selling gas just north of a buck.

 

“This is an unprecedented event,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “We’re experiencing one of the biggest historical collapses in gas prices, including the Great Recession of 2008.”

 

GasBuddy reports the national average for gasoline has just fallen to $1.99 a gallon, marking the lowest it’s been in four years. The national average could dip to $1.49 by mid-April, which would be the lowest since 2004, with potentially hundreds of stations pushing their price to 99 cents a gallon for the first time since the early 2000s.

 

Analysts say the prices started falling nationwide Feb. 20 and that the trajectory has been so swift and severe that it could take gas stations weeks to fully pass along the lower prices.

 

Traffic volumes in Minnesota remain significantly below 2019 levels, according to the Department of Transportation.

 

Traffic volumes were down 40 percent in the metro area Monday compared to Monday averages for March 2019. Statewide, the volumes were down 34 percent Monday.

 

Source: Pioneer Press

[steven36]

Gas is 99 cents at a few stations in Louisiana. That's good for drivers -- but bad for the state.

 

The Delta gas station at N Broad St. and Toulouse St. sells gas for .99 cents a gallon in New Orleans

 

 

Not since the days of the mortgage crisis have Louisiana consumers seen gas prices fall below a dollar a gallon. But with coronavirus and the oil industry in turmoil from a crude-oil production war, cheap gasoline is cropping up.

 

Photos of 99-cent-per-gallon gas circulated on social media Tuesday evening when two North Broad Street stations in New Orleans listed the lowest prices Louisiana has seen since 2008.

 

"It’s surprising but not that shocking," said David Dismukes, an LSU professor and executive director at the Center for Energy Studies. "You’ll see more gas stations drop their prices lower and lower."

 

 

Since early March, industry leaders and experts have anticipated the sticker shock of gas prices to follow the shutdowns caused by COVID-19. At a White House briefing Tuesday, President Donald Trump called the low prices “incredible in a lot of ways,” while also acknowledging the worsening impact it would have on the oil industry.

 

For an oil-dependent state like Louisiana, the industry is dreading the worst outcome as discounted gasoline makes it way across the U.S.

Where is 99-cent gas popping up?

Only New Orleanians will spot 99-cent gas prices for now, said GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick DeHaan.

 

GasBuddy tracks gas price averages, highs and lows in the U.S. and in Canada, DeHaan said. Lately they’ve paid special attention to the drop in prices.

 

Of the nearly 150,000 gas stations in the U.S., two New Orleans stations selling 99-cent gas are among the few -- less than 20 gas stations have dropped their prices below $1.

 

Source: NOLA.com