AAA FUEL GAUGE: West Virginia Gasoline Prices Drop More Than 6 Cents
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
This week it is a 6.1 cent savings for West Virginia motorists when they pull up to the pump for a gallon of self-serve, regular unleaded gasoline. The current price is $2.698 a gallon.
According to AAA’s Fuel Gauge, crude prices showed little movement Monday, Aug. 16 on the NYMEX, dropping 19 cents after opening at $75.39.
After averaging over $81 per barrel a week ago, oil futures slid all the way to $75 at the close last Friday, its lowest point in the last month. Crude’s plummet is directly attributable to less than favorable economic news from the US and abroad, which prompted a steep drop in the stock market. As has been the case for most of this year, oil prices have had a strong correlation with the equities market.
The potential remains for a disruption in Gulf refining operations as a tropical depression is reported in the Gulf of Mexico. So far the system, which has a 60 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours, has had no impact on Gulf oil operations.
So far, the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season has been relatively mild with the formation of only three named storms (Alex, Bonnie and Colin). One factor that could help insulate price exposure from a weather incident is the steady, high levels of crude inventory. Pending any drastic or immediate shift in crude supplies, this will likely continue to temper any large price increases in the near future.
The national average retail price for a gallon of gasoline has not strayed outside the range of $2.70-$2.78 since mid-June, 62 straight days. Today’s national retail price for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline was $2.742.
This week’s average prices: West Virginia Average $2.698
Average price during the week of August 10, 2010 $2.759
Average price during the week of August 18, 2009 $2.654
The following is a list of the average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:
$2.669 Bridgeport
$2.705 Clarksburg
$2.712 Huntington
$2.705 Martinsburg
$2.705 Morgantown
$2.675 Parkersburg
$2.703 Weirton
$2.714 Wheeling
AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 80 local offices in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, New York and Kentucky servicing 2.5 million members.