While temperatures have skyrocketed within the final month and particularly in latest days, a nosedive in fuel costs has continued at a speedy price, dropping one other dime within the final week.
The Massachusetts common for normal fuel on Monday was all the way down to $4.37 a gallon, a 10-cent fall from per week in the past and 41 cents decrease than one month in the past, in response to AAA Northeast. The common within the Bay State has dropped 67 cents for the reason that record-high value of $5.04 a gallon in mid-June.
But whereas the present common is $4.37 per gallon, many drivers throughout the area at the moment are filling up their tanks for lower than $4.00 a gallon — which was unimaginable earlier this summer season.
“People are starting to see prices below $4 a gallon routinely, and that’s great,” AAA Northeast’s Mark Schieldrop informed the Herald on Monday. “You feel that psychological relief when you see that number change.”
The nationwide common will quickly drop beneath $4 per gallon, he famous.
“I’d say by the end of August we should be there,” Schieldrop mentioned of the Bay State’s common going underneath $4 a gallon. “It seems like the norm for the past month has been dropping 1 to 2 cents a day.”
He cautioned, nonetheless, {that a} main hurricane might interrupt the declining pattern for fuel costs.
After costs surged with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. demand for fuel cratered. American demand is about 9% lower than a yr in the past, Schieldrop mentioned. That has led to the persevering with drop in pump costs, as oil costs have plunged.
“Demand is still way off from where we normally are at this time of the year,” Schieldrop mentioned. “It seems like peoples’ habits modifications have caught even with fuel costs declining.
“Many people are pessimistic about the economy in general, so we may not see a surge in demand over the next month just because prices are lower,” he added.
The nation’s common fuel value has fallen to $4.01 per gallon, in response to GasBuddy’s knowledge from greater than 11 million particular person value reviews overlaying over 150,000 stations nationwide.
“The national average is poised to fall back under $4 per gallon as early as today as we see the decline in gas prices enter its eighth straight week,” mentioned Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum evaluation at GasBuddy. “By the end of the week, one hundred thousand stations will be at $3.99 or less … We’ve even seen nearly a dozen stations in low-priced states fall under $2.99, a welcome return to some lucky motorists in areas of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa.”
He added about hurricane impacts, “While I’m upbeat the drop can continue for another couple weeks, we’re starting to see some activity in the tropics, which may increase risk of potential disruption.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”