AAA is reporting that, since Monday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has declined ten cents to $4.11 while Alaska’s statewide average for a gallon of regular gasoline is at $5.03. The statewide average for regular gasoline yesterday was $5.05, $5.14 a week ago, $5.55 a month ago, and $3.65 a year ago. Prices locally are a different story as residents of the Kenai Peninsula are paying the highest gas price in the state on the road system currently, and they have remained relatively unchanged in the past month.
The average gasoline price across the Kenai Peninsula is $5.48, with regular pricing out at $5.55 for a gallon in the Kenai/Soldotna area. Gasbuddy.com reports that regular fuel prices across the Kenai Peninsula show Sunise Gas in Cooper Landing has regular priced at $4.87 per gallon and $4.89 for regular at the Tesoro in Ninilchik. The Speedway in Soldotna has regular at $5.54. The K-Beach Chevron (along with the Kenai Chevron) is at $5.55 for regular along with the Holiday station in Kenai, the Speedway in Kenai and the Tesoro in Homer all at the same price. The highest price for regular gasoline on the Kenai Peninsula is $5.59 for regular at the Chevron in Seward.
Other regions on the state’s road system show a different story as AAA reports that in Anchorage, the average price for regular gasoline at the pump is $5.00. Averages for regular gasoline in other parts of the state, according to AAA show $4.79 in the Mat-Su Borough, $5.10 in Denali, $5.23 in Valdez/Cordova area, $4.91 in Southeast Fairbanks, $4.83 in Fairbanks North Star, and $5.09 in the Yukon Koyukuk region.
Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, recently told ABC News that gas stations are slowly lowering their prices as they try to recapture some of their margins from when prices rose, adding that stations are behind the curve when their costs rise for up to five days, as raising prices is difficult if other stations do not adjust theirs.
Since last Thursday, 10 states have seen the largest decreases in their averages: Colorado (−22 cents), Ohio (−21 cents), Indiana (−21 cents), Illinois (−21 cents), Michigan (−20 cents), Arizona (−19 cents), Iowa (−19 cents), Kansas (−18 cents), North Dakota (−18 cents) and Montana (−17 cents).
President Biden has blamed the big oil companies of taking advantage of increasing the gasoline prices during the conflict with Russia.
According to the Energy Information Administration, gas demand has dropped from 9.25 million b/d to 8.54 million b/d last week with the rate 1.24 b/d lower than last year and is in line with demand at the end of July 2020, when coronavirus restrictions were in place and there were less drivers on the road. Additionally, total domestic gasoline stocks increased slightly by 200,000 bbl to 225.3 bbl. Nationally, AAA says if gas demand remains low and stocks continue to rise alongside falling crude prices, drivers likely will continue to see pump prices decrease.