Since Monday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has decreased by a penny to $5.00. According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total domestic gasoline stocks fell by 700,000 bbl to 217.5 million bbl last week. Meanwhile, gasoline demand declined slightly from 9.2 million b/d to 9.09 million b/d. The slight drop in gas demand has helped to limit pump price increases. However, as crude oil prices remain volatile, the price per gallon for gasoline will likely remain elevated.

At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, WTI decreased by $3.62 to settle at $115.31. Crude prices dropped yesterday amid broad market concern regarding the potential for economic growth to slow after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised the interest rate by 0.75 percent. Slower than expected economic growth could cause crude demand to decline, leading prices to follow suit. Crude prices decreased after the EIA reported that total domestic stocks increased by 1.9 million bbl to 418.7 million bbl last week. As a result, the current storage level is approximately 10 percent lower than a year ago.

Largest Weekly Increases

• Since last Thursday, these 10 states have seen the largest increases in their averages: Montana (+18 cents), Nebraska (+15 cents), Missouri (+13 cents), Wyoming (+13 cents), South Dakota (+13 cents), Arizona (+12 cents), North Dakota (+11 cents), Oklahoma (+11 cents), Colorado (+11 cents) and Florida (+10 cents).