Since Monday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by a penny to $3.04. According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand increased from 9.22 million b/d to 9.58 million b/d last week. Higher demand will likely contribute to fluctuations in pump prices through the holiday weekend, particularly as AAA predicts 34 million Americans will travel by car – an increase of 53% from last year. Learn more here.

At the close of Thursday’s formal trading session, WTI increased by 64 cents to settle at $66.85. After EIA’s weekly report showed that total domestic crude inventories decreased by 1.7 million bbl to 484.3 million bbl, crude prices have increased this week. However, price gains have been limited by market concerns that increasing coronavirus infections around the world could reduce crude consumption this year.

Largest Weekly Changes

• Since last Thursday, these 10 states have seen the largest changes in their averages: Michigan (+9 cents), Ohio (+5 cents), Hawaii (+4 cents), Oklahoma (-4 cents), Indiana (+3 cents), Alaska (+3 cents), Texas (-3 cents), Georgia (-3 cents), North Carolina (-3 cents) and Maryland (-3 cents).