U.S. gasoline prices continue to fall and may reach the lowest level since 2020 on Thanksgiving Day Author: Zhitong Finance

U.S. drivers can expect the cheapest gas prices on Thanksgiving since 2020. The average price of regular gasoline in the U.S. on Monday was about $3.31 per gallon, according to AAA, 25 cents cheaper than a month ago and 36 cents lower than the same period in 2022.

Zhitong Finance APP noted that according to GasBuddy data, the national average price of a gallon of gasoline may reach $3.25 by Thursday, which would be the cheapest price since Thanksgiving in 2020, when the new crown epidemic squeezed demand. Gasoline prices fell to $2.11 per gallon.

According to data from the American Automobile Association, as of Monday, gasoline prices have fallen below $3 per gallon in 11 states in the South and Midwest, including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, and That, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

GasBuddy’s Patrick de Haan said gas prices have been down for nine weeks, the longest decline since the summer of 2022.

More than 65,000 stations are currently selling gasoline for $2.99 ​​a gallon or less, and five additional states could see average prices below $3 a gallon by Thanksgiving, de Haan said.

“From Monday through Sunday, Americans will spend a total of $1.2 billion less on gasoline than they did last year,” de Haan said.

OPEC meeting is about to be held

De Haan said gas prices could continue to fall for another week or two and could fall below last winter’s bottom of $3.05 a gallon. But much depends on whether OPEC will implement production cuts again at its meeting on November 26.

“If OPEC cuts production significantly, I think the possibility of oil prices falling below last year’s levels disappears,” he said.

More than 55 million Americans are expected to travel for Thanksgiving, according to AAA. Despite falling gas prices and slowing inflation, about 20% of respondents to GasBuddy’s travel survey said they were unable to fit holiday travel into their budgets because of inflation in other areas.

de Haan said the decline in natural gas prices mainly reflected seasonal weakening in demand, although the decline in oil prices over the past few weeks had been the “icing on the cake”.

U.S. natural gas prices have begun to fall amid a recent sell-off in the oil market amid concerns about weak demand and rising domestic crude oil inventories.

U.S. crude oil, WTI, briefly fell into a bear market last week, down 22% from its September closing high. U.S. crude oil futures rose to $78.02 a barrel on Monday, up $2.13, or 2.81%, from the previous day, on expectations that OPEC may cut production again.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), gasoline demand fell to 8.9 million barrels per day in the week ended November 10, from 9.5 million barrels per day the previous week.

At the same time, U.S. domestic crude oil inventories increased by 3.6 million barrels to 439.4 million barrels, exceeding expectations. U.S. crude oil production continues to reach a record high of 13.2 million barrels per day.