Gas Prices Fall to Lowest Point since April

South Dakota’s gas price average continues to drift lower. It’s now at $2.25 for a gallon of self-serve regular fuel, fifty-five cents lower than one year ago, according to GasPrices.AAA.com.

It’s been over two months since South Dakota’s price average was as low as it is today, AAA reports. However, the state’s low for 2016 occurred on Feb. 15 when it hit $1.64. The all-time high price for self-serve regular gasoline in South Dakota was reached on July 18, 2008 when it came in at $4.091 per gallon.
With abundant fuel supplies across the nation and declining crude oil costs, gas prices dropped in 47 states over the past week, led by double digit drops in several Midwestern states. Gas prices have dropped in 48 states during the previous month with prices down by at least 25 cents per gallon in Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan. Prices are substantially lower than one year ago in every state, headlined by California, where prices are more than a dollar cheaper than this time last year.

National pump prices have fallen for 43 of the past 44 days, dropping 22 cents during this span. The national average price for regular gasoline sits at $2.21 per gallon, which is the lowest mark since April and the lowest price for this date since 2004. Today’s price is five cents less than one week ago, 15 cents less than one month ago, and 56 cents less than the same date last year.

AAA believes gas prices are likely to remain low for the remainder of the summer compared to recent years. U.S. crude oil supplies are at their highest level for this time of year in 86 years; although domestic oil production has ticked lower each of the past nine months. While oil production has slowed slightly, fuel production has continued to rise. This is supported by data from the American Petroleum Institute, which last week reported fuel deliveries for June were three percent higher than in 2015 and the highest number in nine years. Overall, domestic deliveries are 1.7 percent higher during the first half of 2016 than the same period last year, which is in line with AAA reports of travelers taking advantage of lower gas prices and hitting the roads in record numbers this year.