RICHMOND, Va. -- Richmond-area gas prices have dropped more than seven cents in the last week, according to GasBuddy's survey of 567 stations in Richmond.
The average price of $3.15 per gallon is down 24 cents in the last month and 33 cents lower than last year at this time.
Meanwhile, the national average price of diesel fuel is down 4.5 cents to $3.62 per gallon.
It's the sixth straight week gas prices have fallen, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy Patrick De Haan said.
Watch this November 1994 report on rising Richmond gas prices
"We fully expect gas prices will continue to drop as Americans drive less with the onset of fall," he said. "With oil prices falling below $70 per barrel, their lowest since 2021, there’s solid room for gas prices and diesel to continue falling for some time. We expect the national average could fall below $3 per gallon as early as October for the first time since 2021."
GasBuddy reported the lowest price for gas in Richmond on Sunday was $2.90 per gallon, while the highest price was $3.69 per gallon.
“Gas prices, after two-plus years of sizzling because of outside factors like Covid and Russia, are finally coming back into balance,” said De Haan.
Drivers in 10 US states - including Texas, Kentucky, and Kansas - are paying less than $3 a gallon on average.
Andy Lipow, president of consulting firm Lipow Oil Associates, expects that another nine states will join the sub-$3 list in the next two weeks.
'Panic and fear’ at OPEC
Analysts told CNN that this trend of lower gas prices is likely to continue, despite the shift in strategy from OPEC+.
The oil market is so weak that not even a rescue from OPEC+ seemed to help.
Pressured over concerns about soft demand in China and record-shattering production in the United States, the producer group, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, last week scrapped plans to add supply starting October 1.
Oil prices initially rallied on the day, before those gains faded.
US crude finished down slightly at $69.15 a barrel – the lowest closing price since December.
“Is some amount of panic and fear setting in?” Lipow said, referring to the mood within OPEC+.
“The market remains in a very bearish mood…We should continue to see downward pressure on pump prices in coming weeks,” said Bob McNally, founder and president of Rapidan Energy Group.
McNally, a former energy adviser to President George W. Bush, said that, despite the timing, he doesn’t think the decision has anything to do with the US political calendar.
“They faced a binary choice between accepting a disorderly price drop and postponing the tapering,” he said.
The two-month postponement announced by OPEC+ last week sets the stage for a decision from the producer group right around the November election about what it will do next.
Of course, the mood in the oil market can change on a dime.
If the violence in the Middle East disrupts oil flows from that crucial region or the Russia-Ukraine war escalates, oil could rebound and derail the slump in gas prices.
US oil output hit an all-time high of 13.4 million barrels per day recently, according to weekly federal data.
Here's a look at gas prices on this day over the last ten years:
- September 9, 2023: $3.49/g (U.S. Average: $3.80/g)
- September 9, 2022: $3.38/g (U.S. Average: $3.71/g)
- September 9, 2021: $2.95/g (U.S. Average: $3.17/g)
- September 9, 2020: $2.12/g (U.S. Average: $2.19/g)
- September 9, 2019: $2.21/g (U.S. Average: $2.56/g)
- September 9, 2018: $2.57/g (U.S. Average: $2.84/g)
- September 9, 2017: $2.48/g (U.S. Average: $2.66/g)
- September 9, 2016: $1.95/g (U.S. Average: $2.18/g)
- September 9, 2015: $2.08/g (U.S. Average: $2.38/g)
- September 9, 2014: $3.11/g (U.S. Average: $3.43/g)
The CNN Wire contributed to this report.
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