Gas prices continue downward trend: Analyst says diesel is also on decline

Gas prices are trending back downward, dropping 7.5 cents per gallon nationally over the past week, and declining 6.5 cents per gallon over the past week in Virginia, according to data from GasBuddy.

The average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in Virginia is at $3.33 a gallon on Monday, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 4,081 stations in Virginia.

The average across the U.S. is $3.50 a gallon, per GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

“For the third straight week, consumers have been greeted by falling gasoline prices across a majority of the country, thanks to oil prices holding near recent lows and the transition to summer gasoline being essentially complete. While there have been a few pockets of rising prices, those have been the needle in the haystack, with nearly every single state seeing gas prices fall,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

The national average price of diesel has fallen 6.3 cents in the last week and stands at $4.01 per gallon.

De Haan said diesel should be back below the $4 per gallon mark soon.

“In addition to gasoline prices declining, the average price of a gallon of diesel will join gasoline in the days ahead, falling below $4 per gallon in the next 48 hours or so, a sign of how far we’ve come,” De Haan said.

“Americans are spending hundreds of millions less on fuel every week compared to a year ago, and that’s a number that could rise further as prices are poised to continue trending lower this week.”