Average retail gasoline prices in Minnesota have fallen 6.9 cents in the past week, averaging $1.93 per gallon Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 2,856 gas outlets in Minnesota. This compares with the national average that has decreased 5.4 cents in the last week to $2.12 per gallon, according to gasoline price website MinnesotaGasPrices.com.
Regular gas prices in International Falls, according to the site, ranged from $1.87 to $2.19 this week.
Including the change in gas prices in Minnesota during the past week, prices Sunday were 127.6 cents per gallon lower compared to the same day one year ago and are 54.3 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 48.6 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 118.7 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago.
“All in all, it wasn’t a bad week for motorists filling their tanks. Since last week, some 12,000 stations dropped their price under $2 per gallon, with 45.1 percent of all gas stations – nearly 61,000 – now selling under the $2 per gallon mark. The national average currently stands at its lowest since May 9, 2009, a date that saw 8.9 percent unemployment and Phil Jackson coaching the Los Angeles Lakers toward the NBA title,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy. “This time around, the drop in gasoline is far more joyous and isn’t overshadowed by a polar plunge in the economy. And it doesn’t stop there. Overnight, the average price for diesel fuel in the U.S. dropped under $3 per gallon for the first time since Oct. 2, 2010, and will shed yet another 25-50 cents per gallon before reaching a bottom. Meanwhile, various domestic mid-continent crudes have dropped to the $30 per barrel range, or in the danger zone- territory where oil companies are starting to cut back on operations- a zone that could ultimately result in a slingshot back in prices down the road,” DeHaan noted.
GasBuddy.com is a tool to help motorists save money at the pump by collecting gas price data and displaying it on websites and on a free smartphone app that has been downloaded over 37 million times. The site operates MinnesotaGasPrices.com and more than 250 similar websites that track gasoline prices at more than 140,000 gasoline stations in the United States and Canada.
