Following a string of record-high gas prices in mid-May, area drivers are finally catching a break.
As of Friday, the average price for regular unleaded gas about $3 per gallon in Baltimore, nearly a 13-cent drop since Memorial Day, the AAA reported. This most recent pricing is slightly less than the statewide average of $3.01, and is actually 1 cent cheaper than the same time last year. Nationally, a gallon of regular gas was priced at almost $3.03.
The brunt of the high fuel cost was felt from Feb. 8 to May 23, when gas prices rose every day for 15 consecutive weeks.
“With many motorists? fuel budgets stretched to the limit, any relief is a welcomed sight, even if it?s only a few pennies,” Ragina C. Averella, Manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the pain at the pump is still a numbing reality we face as we approach the peak of the summer driving season.”
Despite the drop in gas prices, the value of a barrel of crude oil was actually up on Friday. At the end of the week, a barrel of crude, the base product from which gasoline is refined, was trading at around $68.20, up 55 cents for the day. This commodity market increase may represent things to come, and some analysts believe prices will be back up at the same place by Labor Day.
“We typically see a little lower prices over June and this is what I [thought],” said Jason Toews, founder of BaltimoreGasPrices.com. “I?m also expecting to see a price increase leading up to Labor Day. Prices will be going up and getting higher, peaking in the middle to end of August.”
