Average retail gasoline prices in West Virginia fell 2.5 cents per gallon last week, averaging $2.17/g on Nov. 14, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 1,154 gas outlets in West Virginia. This compares with the national average that fell 4.9 cents per gallon last week to $2.15/g, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com. Including the change in gas prices in West Virginia during the past week, prices Nov. 14 were 0.7 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are 10.1 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 8.8 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 1.4 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago. According to GasBuddy historical data, gasoline prices on Nov. 14 in West Virginia have ranged widely over the last five years: $2.16/g in 2015, $2.98/g in 2014, $3.28/g in 2013, $3.54/g in 2012 and $3.47/g in 2011. Areas nearby West Virginia and their current gas price climate: Pittsburgh - $2.42/g, down 0.3 cents per gallon from last week’s $2.43/g. Charleston - $2.18/g, down 3.2 cents per gallon from last week’s $2.21/g. Virginia - $2.02/g, down 2.5 cents per gallon from last week’s $2.05/g. “While it’s less than a week after the biggest upset in U.S. election history, energy industry experts are already speculating on what steps a Trump administration might enact first; whether the earliest initiatives might eliminate regulations or perhaps look to increase domestic oil and gas production,” said Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy. “The Keystone XL Pipeline, for instance, is expected to find itself in a more favorable environment for approval but it remains debatable whether such a development would directly benefit U.S. consumers,” he noted. “Over the next few weeks expect prices at the pump to move lower based on market fundamentals, not politics,” says Laskoski. “Inventories remain healthy and wholesale gasoline prices across the U.S. today, on average, are more than 10 cents per gallon lower than where they stood just a week ago.”
