Since Monday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has decreased by two cents to $1.79. Pump prices have consistently declined for nine weeks as Americans follow stay at home orders and crude prices remain low due to COVID-19. New data from the Energy Information Administration revealed that demand increased slightly from 5.1 million b/d to 5.3 million b/d. An increase in demand may contribute to the slowing of pump price decreases in areas that see an uptick in gas sales, but prices will still be well below where they were a year ago. When compared to a year ago, the national average today is $1.05 lower. 

For domestic crude oil prices (West Texas Intermediate), this week brought negative prices for the first time in history. Domestic crude prices have since moved back into positive territory, but they remain volatile. Today, prices spiked by $2.72 to $16.50 in reaction to increased geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran, as well as reports that some participants in the production reduction agreement between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and major crude producers, including Russia, have started to cut production before the May 1 start date of the reduction agreement. The agreement is expected to cut global oil production by 9.7 million b/d for May and June 2020 and continue with cuts into 2022. 

Largest Weekly Decreases

• Since last Thursday, these 10 states have seen the largest declines in their averages: Idaho (-11 cents), Alaska (-8 cents), Arizona (-8 cents), Montana (-7 cents), Wisconsin (-7 cents), Nevada (-7 cents), Oregon (-7 cents), Washington (-6 cents), Michigan (-6 cents) and Utah (-6 cents).