Gas prices continue to fall for fifth straight week: Are more declines to come?

Gas prices in Virginia have fallen 16.6 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.29 per gallon today, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 4,081 stations in Virginia.

That’s five weeks and counting of price drops at the pump, “with the pace of recent declines accelerating to some of the most significant we’ve seen in years,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

Prices in Virginia are 54.4 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and stand $1.32 per gallon higher than a year ago.

The national average price of diesel has declined 10.8 cents in the last week and stands at $5.54 per gallon.

The national average price of gasoline has fallen 15.8 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.51 per gallon today. The national average is down 47.9 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands $1.35 per gallon higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

The trend is likely to reach a sixth straight week, with prices likely to fall again this week, De Haan said.

“Barring major hurricanes, outages or unexpected disruptions, I forecast the national average to fall to $3.99/gal by mid-August,” De Haan said.

More than 25,000 gas stations are back at $3.99 per gallon or less, “and thousands more stations will join this week,” De Haan said.

“In addition, we will see several states fall back under an average of $4, the majority being in the South, but that could spread to more states in the weeks ahead.”