Gas price falls 2.6 cents locally
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Giant Eagle has opened a new GetGo gas station at Forward and Murray avenues in Squirrel Hill.
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After three weeks of rising gasoline prices, motorists have gained a measure of relief as gasoline prices fell slightly both in the Pittsburgh area and nationwide over the past week.
Tuesday's AAA Fuel Gauge report said that the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline at Pittsburgh area stations was $2.874, down 2.6 cents per gallon from the previous week.
Prices had been increasing this month, rising from $2.657 on Sept. 28 to $2.745 on Oct. 5, $2.832 on Oct. 12, and $2.90 on Oct. 19.
Nationwide the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.81.
The recent increases went against seasonal patterns, said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, whose members own and operate most of the gasoline stations in the United States.
Normally, prices decline in the fall as people begin driving less than they did in the summer, and as retailers switch from selling reformulated gasoline -- the more expensive blend of gasoline mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency for summer use because it evaporates less quickly -- to standard gasoline.
The rising prices may have reflected earlier run-ups in the price of both oil and gasoline on the commodity markets.
From late September through early October, oil rose from $75 to $85 a barrel before settling into a range between $81 and $85. Gasoline's wholesale price made a similar move, from $1.87 to $2.20 a gallon. Since then it has fallen as low as $2.03.
"Retail prices are always driven by wholesale prices," Mr. Lenard said. "If prices are rising while oil is flat ... it's probably just a matter of prices catching up."
In the Pittsburgh region Tuesday, gasoline prices ranged from $2.74 a gallon at the Costco in Homestead to $2.99 at the BP station in Coal Center, Washington County, according to PittsburghGasPrices.com.
Recent news suggests that gasoline prices, if not continuing their decline, will at least remain stable in coming weeks.
On Oct. 14, OPEC, the consortium of nations that supply much of the world's oil, agreed to leave its production levels unchanged. A cutback in production could have sent oil prices skyward. Ample global supplies gave the oil producers good reason to consider such a cutback.
The week after OPEC's meeting, the Department of Energy reported that the nation's supply of oil stood at 361.2 million barrels, up 700,000 barrels over the previous week and 22.1 million barrels higher than a year ago at this time.
The nation's supply of gasoline was similarly flush, at 219.3 million barrels, up 1.2 million barrels from the previous week, and more than 12 million barrels higher than a year ago.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government reported that the growth in its gross domestic product had fallen to 9.6 percent in the third quarter, from 10.3 percent in the second quarter; that consumer prices rose 3.6 percent year over year in September; and that its central bank had raised benchmark interest rates -- all indicators of a cooling in the Chinese economy that could reduce that country's energy appetite. If China uses less oil, that would increase worldwide reserves even further, which could increase the downward pressure on prices.
First Published October 27, 2010 12:00 am
