Gas prices in Butler are down a couple cents this week.
According to AAA’s weekly gas price report, the average price for a gallon of regular, unleaded, self-serve in Butler is $2.24 per gallon. That’s four cents cheaper than last week.
As for western Pennsylvania as a whole, prices are about a penny cheaper this week averaging $2.46 per gallon.
Last year at this time, we were paying for more gas- an average of $2.62 per gallon in Pennsylvania.
This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average $2.463
Average price during the week of January 28, 2019 $2.471
Average price during the week of February 5, 2018 $2.628
The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:
$2.418 Altoona
$2.472 Beaver
$2.543 Bradford
$2.444 Brookville
$2.249 Butler
$2.544 Clarion
$2.473 Du Bois
$2.471 Erie
$2.420 Greensburg
$2.571 Indiana
$2.476 Jeannette
$2.509 Kittanning
$2.321 Latrobe
$2.496 Meadville
$2.470 Mercer
$2.313 New Castle
$2.540 New Kensington
$2.496 Pittsburgh
$2.350 Sharon
$2.523 Uniontown
$2.599 Warren
$2.494 Washington
On the National Front
For most states, gas prices are starting off the first week in February cheaper than the last week in January. On the week, only eight states saw gas prices increase which is a big shift from the week prior, which saw increases for 25 states. With most state gas price averages decreasing, the national gas price average held flat at $2.26.
For the week ending Jan 25, the EIA reported U.S. gasoline demand at 9.6 million b/d. The last time the rate was this high was during the 2018 Labor Day weekend. As the EIA rate is an estimate, it’s considered preliminary and the agency may revise it later this year when it releases final figures for the month. If the estimate is not revised, one reason for the jump could be the extreme cold weather seen last week. The weather may have prompted many motorists, especially in the mid-west, to fill-up ahead of the storm.
At the close of Friday’s formal trading session on the NYMEX, West Texas Intermediate increased $1.47 to settle at $55.26. Oil prices mostly increased last week, following indications of tightened global supply this year. Alongside OPEC’s production reduction agreement of 1.2 million b/d for the first six months of 2019, the recently announced U.S.-imposed crude export ban on Venezuela has made market observers worry that global crude supplies will shrink and rebalance prices.