In some parts of Ohio, stations sold gas for less than $2 a gallon.
In Dayton, the average price for regular unleaded gas Tuesday was $2.66 per gallon, down from $2.89 a month ago and $3.02 a year ago.
Springfield’s average price was $2.69 per gallon, down from $2.94 a month ago and $3.08 a year ago.
The national average price for regular unleaded gas fell to $2.95 over the weekend, the lowest level since May 2021, according to Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“With refinery maintenance largely complete and OPEC increasing oil production for December, oil prices have struggled,” De Haan said via GasBuddy’s blog. “Combine those factors and you have a solid recipe for continued downward pressure on gas prices in the weeks ahead.”
AAA reported that the average price of unleaded gas was just below $3 today, down from $3.04 a month ago and $3.05 a year ago.
Nearly every state saw average gas prices fall heading into Thanksgiving, with the national average dipping below $3 per gallon for several consecutive days, De Haan said.
The average price for gas is below $2.75 a gallon in 18 states today, according to AAA. In Ohio, it’s $2.76 per gallon, compared to $2.92 a month ago and $3 a year ago, according to AAA.
De Haan told this news outlet he attributes the drop in prices to refinery issues, particularly BP’s refinery in Whiting, Indiana returning to normal operations after an October fire.
“That was a big part of why, prices suddenly sling-shotted in October, November, and rather dramatically,” he said. “Ten days before Thanksgiving, we really started to see the wholesale price of gasoline plunge, indicating that, EIA (Energy Information Administration) had reported for two straight weeks that Midwest refinery utilization was back in the mid 90s ... in light of the major winter storms that we saw earlier this week.
With refineries processing crude oil at 95% of their maximum capacity and Americans not driving as much during the winter, “there’s going to be a flood of gasoline in the Midwest to get rid of,” De Haan said.
“That pushed the wholesale price of gasoline down probably 30 or 40 cents in last two weeks ... and retailers are now making somewhere in the ballpark of 50 cents a gallon,” De Haan said. “That’s why prices suddenly plunged so quickly.”
If there are no new refinery issues, Ohio could be one of the states that could see a handful of stations below $2 a gallon this winter, he said.
De Haan also said any price seen on a gas station sign is likely lower due to discount-focused consumers.
“The sign you see in the street corner is almost never what what a lot of smart Americans pay anymore, because they have loyalty programs like Speedway, Sheetz (and others), they get another nickel off,” he said. “The retail price is now the high watermark, and very few people are probably paying that because they’re getting various discounts, whether it’s credit card rebates, rewards, whether it’s GasBuddy, whether it’s loyalty, whether it’s Kroger points, there’s so many different ways now.”
Prices rose precipitously on Tuesday, with many deeply discounted stations reversing course as part of a routine price-cycle, De Haan said.
A price-cycling pattern is where stations ignore minor fluctuations in the market on a daily basis, with most stations undercutting each other by a penny or two each day until they run out of margin, De Haan previously told this news outlet.
But when a retailer is no longer making any money, they will then raise their price 25 to 40 cents a gallon to pass along any price difference and to restore their margin to about 15 to 20 cents a gallon, he said.
De Haan posted to X on Tuesday that GasBuddy was tracking “multiple stations across Ohio that raised gas prices by over $1 per gallon in the blink of an eye” Monday.
One station in Lewis Center near Columbus raised prices from $1.94 a gallon to $2.99 a gallon, he said.
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