Weekly Ohio gasoline prices down again

VW independent/submitted information

Average retail gasoline prices in Ohio have fallen 10.4 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.18 per gallon on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 5,345 gas outlets in Ohio. This compares with a national average that has fallen 3.0 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.26 a gallon, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.

Including the change in gas prices in Ohio during the past week, prices Sunday were 53 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 42.7 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 10.0 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 50.7 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago.

According to GasBuddy historical data, gasoline prices on July 5 in Ohio have ranged widely over the last five years: $2.71 per gallon in 2015, $3.57 per gallon in 2014, $3.40 per gallon in 2013, $3.35 per gallon in 2012 and $3.57 per gallon in 2011.

“Yesterday’s gas prices ended just as GasBuddy predicted a week ago: $2.27 per gallon nationally,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. “While prices have come down, we now head to the time of year when hurricane season enters the picture.

“In the last couple of years we have seen minimal to no disruption as hurricane season largely went by with no major storms that hit land,” DeHaan added. “Should we see a major hurricane enter the Gulf, gas prices may react.

“For the week ahead, expect much of the country to see prices continue to trickle lower while the Great Lakes states may see their first price increase in weeks as stations have undercut each other to the point where they begin losing money,” DeHaan said.  “Any way you slice it, this summer has featured the cheapest Memorial Day, July 4, and perhaps Labor Day in the last eleven years, and motorists have been responding by hitting the roads in record numbers, according to a GasBuddy study before the summer driving season began.”