Gas prices fall in Ohio as crude oil prices go down
After a short surge, gas prices in Northeast Ohio are slowly coming back down.
According to AAA East Central, the average gas price in northeast Ohio is $3.459 per gallon compared to last week's $3.574 per gallon and last year's $3.275 per gallon.
AAA East Central cites OPEC+'s decision to maintain current production levels and not make any cuts last week as the reason for the slight drop in prices stating that oil prices account for as much as 60% for the cost of a gallon of gasoline.
The latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) data states that gasoline demand rose from 8.14 million barrels to 8.49 million barrels per day last week. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks increased by 2.6 million barrels to 234.6 million barrels.
Despite this increase in demand, total supply growth has helped limit pump price increases.
At the close of Friday's formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate decreased by $2.49 to settle at $73.39. Crude prices dropped last week due to ongoing market concerns that should a recession arise this year, crude demand and prices would likely decline.
Additionally, crude prices dropped after EIA reports that total commercial stocks increased by 4.2 million barrels to 452.7 million barrels.
