Area gas prices see nearly 20-cent decrease from last week

Here’s a bit of good news for your wallets and purses. Gas prices are dropping, according to gasoline price watchdog DaytonGasPrices.com.

Right now, the average local retail gasoline price is $3.51 a gallon. That’s nearly a 20-cent decrease when compared to the average local price a week ago and a 36-cent decrease when compared to prices a month ago.

The average national retail gasoline price is nearly $3.70 a gallon. The average national price was nearly $4 a gallon a month ago.

The lower gasoline prices are due to the fact that there are currently no major refinery issues that would affect prices, according to Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, which oversees DaytonGasPrices.com.

“A lot of refinery kinks have worked out. Gasoline output from refineries are pumping out 9.5 million barrels of gasoline a day.” He also pointed out that “right now prices are dropping at the pump faster than they are on the wholesale market.”

The lowest gasoline price listed on DaytonGasPrices.com at 10 a.m. Friday was $3.39 a gallon found at various locations in Springfield. The highest gasoline price at 10 a.m. was nearly $3.70 a gallon found at the BP gas station on Ohio 235 near Artz Road in Huber Heights and also at the Speedway Gas Station, 1625 S. Dayton Lakeview Road and Hartley Avenue in New Carlisle.

It is difficult to tell what gasoline prices will be like next week, but DeHaan said right now there is no reason for prices to increase.

“Prices will continue to fall slowly, but there is an increased risk that any increase in wholesale price could bring a price hike,” DeHaan said. However, if there is a price hike, it will be nowhere near $4 a gallon.