Gas prices heading into Thanksgiving travel time down a penny from last week: AAA

RICHMOND — It may not feel like it, but gas prices on the average across Virginia have dropped a little bit as we head into the busy Thanksgiving travel perio. They are still up, however, more than a dollar than at this same time in 2020.

AAA Mid-Atlantic said Monday that the average price for regular gasoline across the commonwealth was $3.26 per gallon. That is down a penny from a week ago, but it is still higher by two cents than at this same time last month and up $1.24 from this time last year.

A spokesperson for AAA Mid-Atlantic cautioned against seeing the slight drop as a future sign of lower prices to come. Crude-oil prices that had been steadily hovering over $80 per barrel dropped this week into the mid-$70 range, fueled by reports of calls for simultaneous release of stockpiled oil by the world's largest oil consumers including the United States.

“The price of crude oil accounts for about 50%-60% of what consumers pay at the pump, so a lower oil price should translate into better gasoline prices for drivers,” Morgan Dean of AAA said. “But until global oil production ramps back up to pre-pandemic levels, this recent dip in the price of crude may only be temporary.”

Nationwide, the average price of per-gallon gasoline is mirroring the statewide trends. The $3.40 price is a penny less than last week, but still three cents higher than last month and $1.29 higher than this same time in 2020.

Locally, gasoline prices in Staunton were staying in the upper $3.20 range Monday, according to the industry tracker GasBuddy.com. Several stations reported a per-pump price of $3.27. In Waynesboro, the lowest price reported Monday was $3.09 at the Walmart neighborhood market on Broad Street, with the range going up to $3.25 at several city stations.

Augusta County's lowest price was $3.19 at a Citgo station in Fishersville. The highest was $3.27 at two stations, a Shell in Fishersville and a Liberty in Churchville.

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Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is daily news coach for USA TODAY's Southeast Region-Unified Central, which includes Virginia, West Virginia and central North Carolina. He is based in Petersburg, Virginia. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: AAA says Thanksgiving week gas prices are actually down from last week