Bladen County gas prices have continued to fall in recent days, with average pricen nearing the $3 mark.
Bladen Journal file
ELIZABETHTOWN— Bladen County gas prices continue falling. In fact, on Monday, average gas prices in the county stood at $3.03. Prices haven’t been that low since January.
The average price in Bladen County was just a penny higher than the statewide average $3.02, and even than the U.S average of $2.98.
With the holiday season just around the corner, gas watchers are calling for continued low prices relative to a year ago when the average price was $3.38 in Bladen County.
Part of the reason for the declining price at the pump is that seasonably cooler weather is keeping drivers at home, according to GasBuddy.com.
“For the eighth straight week, the nation’s average price of gasoline has declined, falling 4.6 cents from a week ago to $3.33 per gallon yesterday” according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering more than 150,000 gas stations across the country. “The national average is down 24.8 cents from a month ago and 42.6 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 4.2 cents in the last week and stands at $4.34 per gallon— $1.01 lower than one year ago.”
“As motorists turn their attention to Thanksgiving, they certainly can be thankful for the decline in gasoline prices, which has now reached eight straight weeks,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. GasBuddy counts 11 states where average prices are below $3 per gallon, with several more to join this week. Even in California, the nation’s most expensive gasoline average will fall below $5 in the next 48 hours,
“Gasoline demand has struggled in recent weeks, falling not only due to the seasonal nature, as Americans drive less as the weather gets colder, but it appears there may be some economic headwinds entering the equation as well,” De Haan said
Oil futures slipped slightly in early Monday trading after declining last week for a third straight week as concerns abound about a weakening outlook for global demand, a picture that has grown more grim, according to information release Monday by Gas Buddy.
In early Monday trade, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil just moved into the red, down 5 cents to $77.12 per barrel, down from last Monday’s $81.48 per barrel start, and down from $83.93 two weeks ago. Brent crude was seen down a penny per barrel to $81.42 per barrel, down from $85.65 last Monday, and down from $89.04 two weeks ago. While OPEC slightly raised its forecast for 2023 oil demand growth to 2.5 million barrels per day, oil markets failed to be convinced the news was good. Meanwhile, risk slowly continues to drop as Israel and Hamas may be closer to a potential hostage exchange, deescalating fears that the violence would spread outside the immediate boundaries. In addition, CFTC data showed a decline in open interest in crude oil futures, while markets moved away from backwardation in the first quarter of 2024, helping to likely slow the bleeding in oil prices.