The average price of a gallon of regular in the Philadelphia market has sunk below the $3 mark for the first time since mid-2021, according to GasBuddy.
The average, which includes wholesale clubs and some stations in Delaware and New Jersey, fell 2½ cents in the past week to $2.98 at the close of business on Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s number crunching.
That average is 22.0 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and 5.7 lower than a year ago, and second lowest this decade, only behind $2.57 per gallon in 2020.
The cheapest station in the Philadelphia market was $2.65 per gallon at close of business Sunday and the most expensive was $3.89.
Neighboring areas were down as well: New Jersey, $2.83 per gallon, down 2.4 cents; and Wilmington, $2.66 per gallon, down 2.1 cents.
The national average was down 4.0 cents per gallon in the past week to $2.75. The national average is down 22.6 cents per gallon from a month ago and 22.4 cents lower than a year ago, according to GasBuddy.
The national average price of diesel fell 5.4 cents in the past week to $3.52 per gallon.
“For the fifth straight week, the national average price of gasoline has declined, with all but a handful of states seeing prices move lower,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Oil prices have remained relatively low even amid the U.S. blockade on Venezuela’s oil exports. With refineries running at seasonally high output and gasoline inventories building, most states — outside of price-cycling markets — have continued to see declines, with some stations in nearly a dozen states now dipping below the $2-per-gallon mark. That trend could persist a bit longer before prices finally bottom out sometime in January or February.”