After a brief rise last week, the nation’s average gasoline price is again falling, declining 5.8 cents per gallon to $3.50 per gallon today, according to GasBuddy® data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country. The national average is down 15.9 cents from a month ago and is 1.9 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 1.8 cents in the last week and stands at $3.82 per gallon—9 cents lower than one year ago.
“The calendar has closed on May, and so too has the door closed on rising gas prices, with the national average declining to its lowest level since March. Thankfully, gas prices are unlikely to be moved by OPEC’s meeting and agreement to extend production cuts into 2025, leading the national average to fall below $3.50 in the next week,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “With GasBuddy data showing gasoline demand plummeting after Memorial Day, and refiners inputting the largest amount of oil into their facilities in years, it’s very likely we’ll continue to see gas prices fall as we approach July 4. Diesel prices also continue to decline to their lowest level in nearly 11 months. The future looks bright for falling fuel prices across the board, though we’ll have to keep our eyes on hurricane season.”
OIL PRICES
Over the weekend, OPEC+ members met and agreed to take on a varied approach to cuts but with some restoration in production coming along, as well. While the cuts will continue through the third quarter, OPEC+ will begin raising production, phasing out the 2.2 million barrels per day of voluntary cuts. By fall of 2025, the voluntary cuts will be restored, while some 1.6 million barrels per day of cuts announced in April of 2023 will continue through the end of 2025. Oil prices had largely been priced in OPEC’s extension of cuts and were little changed in Sunday evening trade. As of Monday morning, oil was trading mostly flat, with WTI crude up just 5 cents to $77.04 per barrel, down from $79.11 last Tuesday, while Brent crude was up 7 cents to $81.18 per barrel, down from last week’s $83.56 per barrel start.
OIL AND REFINED PRODUCTS
Last week’s report from the EIA showed a 4.2 million barrel decline in oil inventories as refiner inputs spiked. Oil inventories now stand 5 million barrels below a year ago, while the SPR rose 500,000 barrels and stands just shy of 370 million barrels. Gasoline inventories rose 2.0 million barrels and are up nearly 13 million from a year ago, while distillate inventories rose 2.5 million barrels and stand about 13 million barrels above a year ago. Implied gasoline demand, EIA’s proxy for retail consumption, fell 166,000 bpd to 9.15 million barrels per day, while utilization at refineries jumped 2.6 percentage points to 94.3%, the highest number since last summer.
FUEL DEMAND
According to GasBuddy demand data driven by its Pay with GasBuddy™ fuel card, U.S. retail gasoline demand saw a decline of 4.6% for the week ending June 1 (Sun-Sat). Broken down by PADD region, demand fell 4.7% in PADD 1, fell 3.7% in PADD 2, fell 7.8% in PADD 3, rose 0.3% in PADD 4, and fell 3.3% in PADD 5. GasBuddy models U.S. gasoline demand at 8.633 million barrels per day for the week ending May 25.
GAS PRICE TRENDS
The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.39 per gallon, down 10 cents from last week, followed by $3.29, $3.49, $3.19, and $3.59 rounding out the top five most common prices.
The median U.S. gas price is $3.39 per gallon, down 6 cents from last week and about 11 cents lower than the national average.
The top 10% of stations in the country average $4.80 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $2.89 per gallon.
The states with the lowest average prices: Mississippi ($2.96), Oklahoma ($2.96), Arkansas ($2.99).
The states with the highest average prices: California ($4.99), Hawaii ($4.69), and Washington ($4.45).
DIESEL PRICE TRENDS
The most common U.S. diesel price stood at $3.79 per gallon, down 20 cents from last week, followed by $3.99, $3.69, $3.59, and $3.49 rounding out the top five most common prices.
The median U.S. diesel price is $3.69 per gallon, down 6 cents from last week and about 12 cents lower than the national average for diesel.
Diesel prices at the top 10% of stations in the country average $4.79 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $3.20 per gallon.
The states with the lowest average diesel prices: Oklahoma ($3.30), Texas ($3.36), and South Dakota ($3.44).
The states with the highest average diesel prices: Hawaii ($5.47), California ($5.15), and Washington ($4.52).
