West Valley gas prices see modest drop this week

Gas prices in the West Valley dipped about four cents to &4.68, lower than the state average, dropping nine cents to $4.71 a gallon and the national average dropped 16 cents to $4.31 a gallon.

“Although prices have dropped after Memorial Day demand passed, gas prices remain the highest they’ve been in four years,” said AAA Mountain West Group spokesperson Aldo Vazquez in a release. “They’ll likely remain elevated as the busy summer driving season gets underway.”

At the close of Wednesday’s formal trading session, crude oil fell $5.21 a barrel to settle at $88.68 a barrel. The Energy Information Administration reports crude oil inventories decreased by 3.3 million barrels from the previous week. At 441.7 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 2% below the five-year average for this time of year.

While the production of crude oil decreased, the demand for gas rose from 8.76 million barrels per day to 9.25 million. With the increase in demand, total domestic gasoline supply decreased from 214.2 million barrels to 211.6 million. Gasoline production increased last week, averaging 9.9 million barrels per day.

Arizona remained the eighth highest market in the county, behind California ($6.07), Washington ($5.74), Hawaii ($5.65), Oregon ($5.27), Alaska ($5.26), Nevada ($5.21) and Illinois ($4.86).

According to gasbuddy.com, the cheapest gas in the Valley can be found at the Sam’s Club in Gilbert at Gilbert Road and Houston Avenue and at Sam’s Club at the Tempe Marketplace at $4.14 a gallon.

In Litchfield Park, Fry’s at 13710 W Camelback Rd has the lowest gas price at $4.69 a gallon, in Goodyear the Fry’s at 16380 W Yuma Rd is offering $4.59 a  gallon.