Gas prices down this week, but analysts watching the tropics for weather impacts

Gas prices have dropped four cents a gallon over the past week, averaging $3.78 a gallon nationally on Monday morning, according to the tracking website GasBuddy.

“The drop may be short-lived, as one of the nation’s largest refineries partially shut last week after a fire at a storage tank, and as we see more tropical activity that could lead to further disruption,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

On that tropical activity thing: there’s Idalia, which is in Florida now, and is on a track that will take it up the East Coast to the Outer Banks later this week.

“While GasBuddy is closely monitoring Florida for challenges related to Idalia and is prepared to activate the fuel availability tracker, the rest of the nation could see gas price declines reversing pending the outcome of refinery issues that continue to put upward pressure on wholesale gasoline prices,” De Haan said.

The per-gallon average in Virginia is down 4.9 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.61/gallon today, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 4,081 stations in Virginia.

The national average price of diesel has risen 3.3 cents in the last week and stands at $4.33 per gallon.