AAA: Increase in gasoline stocks pushes gas prices cheaper

On the week, gas prices are mostly cheaper across the country. A small number of states saw pump prices decrease more than a dime, though the majority saw fluctuation of a few pennies.

Today’s national average of $2.59 is two cents cheaper than last week.

“An increase in gasoline stocks amid robust demand helped to push gas prices cheaper on the week,” said Tammy Arnette, Senior Public Affairs Specialist for AAA. “We would expect this trend to continue throughout most of the month, but the exception is Thanksgiving. With nearly 49.3 million Americans expected to travel by car for the holiday, gas prices may start to fluctuate by the end of this week.”

Today’s national average is six cents less than last month and three cents cheaper than this time last year.

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session on the NYMEX, WTI increased by 95 cents to settle at $57.72. Crude prices increased last week due to increased optimism that China and the U.S. – the world’s two largest crude consumers – are continuing to resolve ongoing trade tensions that sparked market fears that global crude demand would suffer as a result of increased tariffs between both countries.

Crude prices increased despite new data from EIA that revealed total domestic crude inventories increased by 2.2 million bbl, bringing the new total to 449 million bbl. The current level is 6.9 million bbl higher than last year’s level at this same time.