The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded declined for the 15th consecutive day Sunday, according to the latest report from AAA.
Nationally, the total drop was four cents over that time period. In the southeast, the rate of decline varied depending on the state.
Average prices in Georgia and Tennessee have spent the past month slowly recovering from the Colonial Pipeline outage that sent prices surging by an average of 28 and 17 cents respectively. Florida prices were falling during the pipeline outage, but then rose alongside increased oil prices and surging demand from Hurricane Matthew. The Florida average has seen slight declines during the past week, but is about where it should be, based on current market conditions and may not see dramatic drops unless oil prices do.
- Florida's state average of $2.25 is fractions of a penny less than a week ago, 11 cents more than last year, but 84 cents less than two years ago. The Florida average has declined seven of the last eight days, for a total discount of 1 cent.
- Georgia's state average of $2.21 is 5 cents less than a week ago, 13 cents more than last year, but 77 cents less than two years ago. The Georgia average price has declined 31 of the past 32 consecutive days for a total discount of 16 cents.
- Tennessee's state average of $2.08 is 4 cents less than a week ago, 11 cents more than last year, but 76 cents less than two years ago. The state average has declined 26 of the past 29 days for a total discount of 9 cents.
"Gas prices typically follow a downward trend through the final months of the year," said Mark Jenkins, spokesman, AAA - The Auto Club Group. "Last year, the national average dropped about 25 cents from Columbus Day through Thanksgiving. During that time, oil prices fell almost $10 a barrel. A drop like that is less likely to occur this year, as the price of oil will likely hold steady at around $50 a barrel until OPEC's meeting next month."
Despite reaching its highest daily settlement of the year at $51.60 a barrel, West Texas Intermediate crude oil logged a weekly average of $50.62, which was exactly the same as the week before. The market continues to react to a potential OPEC output agreement. Last week, many were focused on where Russia stands, and it is rumored that their Energy Minister Alexander Novak is planning several meetings with OPEC countries to discuss proposals to freeze oil output amid weak prices in the market. OPEC countries are scheduled to formally meet again on November 30
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