AAA: Gas Prices Soaring in Pennsylvania

Gas prices are 13 cents higher in Western Pennsylvania this week at $3.655 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

This week’s average prices: Western Pennsylvania Average                         $3.655
Average price during the week of February 12, 2024                                       $3.521
Average price during the week of February 21, 2023                                       $3.806

The average price of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:      

$3.642      Altoona
$3.640      Beaver
$3.657      Bradford
$3.641      Brookville
$3.611      Butler
$3.605      Clarion
$3.651      DuBois
$3.662      Erie
$3.662      Greensburg
$3.681      Indiana
$3.694      Jeannette
$3.605      Kittanning
$3.680      Latrobe
$3.691      Meadville
$3.699      Mercer
$3.543      New Castle
$3.628      New Kensington
$3.694      Oil City
$3.644      Pittsburgh
$3.669      Sharon
$3.702      Uniontown
$3.699      Warren
$3.655      Washington

Trend Analysis: 

After months of barely budging more than a few cents, the national average for pump prices jumped 12 cents over the past week to $3.27.  A significant contributor is a shutdown at the large BP-Whiting refinery in Indiana, which has been offline for more than two weeks due to a power outage.  The refinery processes 435,000 barrels of crude per day, and the shutdown has caused prices throughout the Midwest to climb, pushing the national average higher as well. Today’s national average is 19 cents more than a month ago but 14 cents less than a year ago. 

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), gas demand decreased from 8.81 to 8.17 million barrels per day last week. Total domestic gasoline stocks declined by 3.7 million barrels to 247.3 million barrels. Lower gas demand would typically push pump prices down, but fluctuating oil prices and tight gas supply is causing price increases.

At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate decreased by $1.23 to settle at $76.64. Oil prices dropped after the EIA reported that total domestic commercial crude stocks increased significantly by 12 million barrels to 439.4 million barrels last week.

Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at gasprices.aaa.com.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 70 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members. News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.