Let's Talk Turkey: Gas Prices Fall Just Before Thanksgiving

The nation's average gas price has decreased for the second consecutive week, down 11.9 cents from a week ago to $3.64 per gallon today.

That's according to GasBuddy statistics culled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering more than 150,000 gas stations nationwide.

"It’s terrific news as motorists prepare for Thanksgiving travel, with tens of thousands of stations under $3 per gallon, and thousands more to join in the next few weeks, barring a dramatic turnaround,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

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What Happened: The national average is 24.5 cents a gallon more than a year ago and 16.4 cents lower than one month ago. Diesel is now averaging $5.28 per gallon across the US, down 6.7 cents in the previous week.

“What an incredible turnaround in the last week. While a decline was expected in more states than last week, I didn’t expect every single state to hop on the bandwagon so quickly,” De Haan said.

De Haan also noted some competition in terms of gas prices in the suburban area of Chicago. Woodman’s, in Bloomingdale — population 22,386 — offered gas at $2.99 per gallon Sunday, with other stations in the area pricing gas at up to $4.07.

“This is pretty wild given Illinois has the highest gas tax in the region!” De Haan tweeted.

Why It Matters: De Haan noted WTI crude oil was trading at $79.52 a barrel early on Monday, down 59 cents from the previous Monday's opening price of $87.90 per barrel.

Brent was recently trading at $87.13 per barrel, down 49 cents from its week-opening price of $95.00 per barrel.

The three-week dip has occurred as oil prices have started to fall, discounting inventory levels that are still low and putting more emphasis on economic worries and a resurgence of Covid cases in numerous important Chinese cities, De Haan said.

Additionally, Saudi Arabia and other OPEC oil producers are talking about raising their output, the group's delegates said on Monday. This may help mend fences with the Biden administration and keep energy churning amid fresh initiatives to stifle Russia's oil industry because of the Ukraine crisis.
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Image: Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash