Gas Prices Drop For 5th Consecutive Week; Lowest NYE Level Since COVID

Authored by Rob Sabo via The Epoch Times,

Gas prices continued their sharp downward trend throughout December, falling by nearly 23 cents over the month to a national average of $2.75 per gallon on Dec. 29—the lowest level recorded since 2021, according to a report by fuel price comparison app GasBuddy.

The national average price of diesel fuel, meanwhile, was $3.52 per gallon, a dip of more than $0.05 from a week earlier, GasBuddy reported.

Increased domestic production, along with a late-year ramp-up in production by members of OPEC+, a coalition of oil-exporting nations, has led to increased domestic and global supply, despite ongoing sanctions against oil-rich countries such as Russia and Venezuela.

According to Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, the national average price for gasoline has declined in all but a handful of U.S. states.

“Oil prices have remained relatively low even amid the U.S. blockade on Venezuela’s oil exports,” De Haan said in a statement.

“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.”

He said the trend could continue for a while before prices ultimately bottom out, likely in January or February.

U.S. crude oil producers’ output of nearly 17 million barrels per day (bpd) for mid-December was about 12 percent higher than the 15.2 million bpd produced in late October, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported. Meanwhile, eight members of OPEC+ announced in October they would increase oil production by an additional 137,000 barrels per day beginning in December.

Global petroleum inventories rose on average by 1.8 million bpd in the second and third quarters of 2025, EIA analysts said. China accounted for about 1.1 billion barrels per day of the inventory growth.

However, the relief at the pump may be short-lived. The price of U.S. crude jumped by 2.1 percent during Dec. 29 trading to settle at just under $58 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was up by 1.88 percent and finished the day’s session at $61.78 per barrel.

The GasBuddy report compiled data from more than 12 million price reports from more than 150,000 gas stations throughout the United States. Average gasoline prices were lowest in Oklahoma at $2.17 per gallon, followed by Colorado and Texas at $2.33 per gallon each. All three states had the lowest average prices for diesel fuel as well, at $2.92, $2.99, and $3.02, respectively.

Average prices for a gallon of gas were highest in Hawaii at $4.36 and California at $4.20. Diesel fuel was highest in both states at $5.16 and $4.88 per gallon, respectively.

Regionally, gas prices were highest across the West Coast at $3.76 per gallon for the week ending Dec. 22, EIA reported. Prices were lowest in the Gulf Coast region at $2.44.