After creeping up near the $4 per gallon mark in mid-September, U.S. gas prices have been coasting downhill for the last 10 weeks and the average price for a gallon of regular across the nation clocked in at $3.25 on Wednesday, according to AAA.
That current average price is down 25 cents from a month ago and about 27 cents from this time last year.
After suffering through almost two years of gas prices that were coming in well north of the national average, Utah drivers are on the plus side of the equation now with a gallon of regular averaging $3.15 in the Beehive State on Wednesday.
Experts say price declines are being driven by falling demand, a dip in wholesale pricing and the seasonal change to winter blend fuels which are cheaper for refineries to produce.
For every one cent that gas prices drop, U.S. drivers save a collective $3.8 million according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“If you amplify that times 30 cents, we’re talking about Americans that are spending hundreds of millions less on gasoline today than they were a year ago,” De Haan told The Associated Press.
While Utah drivers are seeing some of the lowest gas prices in years, more than a dozen states are currently paying less than $3 per gallon on average. On Wednesday, Texas had the lowest average price in the country for a gallon of regular at $2.72 according to AAA. On the other side of the pump spectrum, gas prices were north of the $4 per gallon mark in four states on Wednesday, with California leading the pack with an average price of $4.86 per gallon.
So, will the high price furlough continue?
The OPEC group of oil producing countries and its allies, known collectively as OPEC+, have a meeting this week where production policies could be modified in the face of falling prices.
At an October meeting, OPEC+ approved a production cut of 2 million barrels per day beginning in November.
According to The Associated Press, the group said the decision was based on the “uncertainty that surrounds the global economic and oil market outlooks.” Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman stressed the group’s stated role as a guardian of stable energy markets.
“We are here to stay as a moderating force, to bring about stability,” he told reporters following the October meeting.
Experts say there is a current disagreement among OPEC+ members about what their next move should be when it comes to production volumes and will be closely monitoring this week’s gathering.
“This is a make-or-break OPEC+ meeting,” Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, told CNN. “This meeting reminds me a lot of the November 2014 meeting during which the Saudis opened the spigots and created one of the biggest price drops in our lifetimes, other than during COVID.”