Since Monday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by a penny to $2.41, which is eight cents more than a week ago, 16 cents more than a month ago, and nine cents less than a year ago. Pump prices have increased while gas demand declined from 8.11 million b/d to 7.83 million b/d last week, according to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Although gas demand dropped and total refinery utilization decreased from 82.5 percent to 81.7 percent, pump prices have increased moderately, signaling that expensive crude oil prices are driving the price. Gas prices are likely to see moderate increases, as crude prices remain high, through the weekend.

At the close of Thursday’s formal trading session, WTI decreased by 51 cents to settle at $52.34. EIA’s new weekly report prompted crude price increases earlier this week after it showed total domestic crude inventories declined by 9.9 million bbl to 476.7 million bbl last week, which is the largest weekly decline since late July 2020. However, price gains continue to be limited by ongoing market concern that crude demand may take more time than expected to recover this year due to new coronavirus infections and associated travel restrictions.

Largest Weekly Increases

• Since last Thursday, these 10 states have seen the largest increases in their averages: Michigan (+12 cents), Indiana (+7 cents), North Carolina (+7 cents), Ohio (+7 cents), Illinois (+5 cents), California (+4 cents), Idaho (+3 cents), Vermont (+3 cents), Nevada (+3 cents) and Tennessee (+3 cents).