Editor’s Note: Report released December 26, 2017 due to the Christmas holiday.
Fort Lauderdale, FL – The nation’s gas prices continued to give ground for most Americans during the week leading up to the Christmas holiday, according to the latest fuel price survey released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. However, a sudden spike in prices across the Midwest, coupled with higher prices across California, pushed the nation’s average gas price upward by over two cents to $2.47 per gallon. As stated previously, drivers in most regions enjoyed slightly lower gas prices, typically in the range of one to two cents per gallon. In fact, aside from a spike in California prices, the motorists in the broader West Coast region enjoyed about three-cent’s worth of price declines, on average. Prices in the Midwest jumped by nearly nine cents per gallon. Truck drivers were not so lucky this week, with regionally-mixed price movements for diesel fuel, according to the E.I.A. Across the Rocky Mountains and the West Coast, diesel prices went down by about a penny to a penny and a half per gallon this week. East of the Continental Divide, it was a different story, with diesel prices rising up to two cents per gallon, particularly across the Midwest. Fuel prices for all regions are shown below, as gathered from www.eia.gov.E.I.A. Gas Price Survey
12/11/17 | 12/18/17 | 12/25/17 | week ago | year ago | ||
U.S. | 2.485 | 2.450 | 2.472 | 0.022 | 0.163 | |
East Coast (PADD1) | 2.465 | 2.438 | 2.426 | -0.012 | 0.113 | |
New England (PADD1A) | 2.546 | 2.525 | 2.510 | -0.015 | 0.199 | |
Central Atlantic (PADD1B) | 2.589 | 2.571 | 2.555 | -0.016 | 0.139 | |
Lower Atlantic (PADD1C) | 2.348 | 2.313 | 2.304 | -0.009 | 0.067 | |
Midwest (PADD2) | 2.371 | 2.324 | 2.409 | 0.085 | 0.129 | |
Gulf Coast (PADD3) | 2.216 | 2.164 | 2.170 | 0.006 | 0.090 | |
Rocky Mountain (PADD4) | 2.514 | 2.476 | 2.450 | -0.026 | 0.275 | |
West Coast (PADD5) | 2.974 | 2.961 | 2.966 | 0.005 | 0.374 | |
West Coast less California | 2.724 | 2.710 | 2.677 | -0.033 | 0.282 |
E.I.A. Diesel Price Survey
12/11/17 | 12/18/17 | 12/25/17 | week ago | year ago | ||
U.S. | 2.910 | 2.901 | 2.903 | 0.002 | 0.363 | |
East Coast (PADD1) | 2.901 | 2.897 | 2.904 | 0.007 | 0.331 | |
New England (PADD1A) | 2.900 | 2.924 | 2.943 | 0.019 | 0.332 | |
Central Atlantic (PADD1B) | 3.060 | 3.060 | 3.068 | 0.008 | 0.381 | |
Lower Atlantic (PADD1C) | 2.788 | 2.778 | 2.782 | 0.004 | 0.304 | |
Midwest (PADD2) | 2.863 | 2.853 | 2.854 | 0.001 | 0.365 | |
Gulf Coast (PADD3) | 2.705 | 2.697 | 2.708 | 0.011 | 0.287 | |
Rocky Mountain (PADD4) | 2.991 | 2.958 | 2.948 | -0.010 | 0.432 | |
West Coast (PADD5) | 3.344 | 3.327 | 3.312 | -0.015 | 0.505 | |
West Coast less California | 3.072 | 3.044 | 3.026 | -0.018 | 0.299 | |
California | 3.560 | 3.552 | 3.539 | -0.013 | 0.668 |
*PADD stands for Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts. Charts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/