Gas prices were down for a fourth straight week, hitting their lowest level in two months. As of March 17th, the price of regular and premium gas were down 1 and 2 cents from the previous week, respectively. According to GasBuddy.com, California has the highest average price for regular at $4.60 and Oklahoma has the cheapest at $2.60.
Currently, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline stands at $3.06 with premium gasoline averaging $3.99 per gallon. One year ago, regular gas was priced at $3.45 per gallon, while premium gas was at $4.31 per gallon.
The next chart is a monthly chart overlay of West Texas light crude, Brent crude, and unleaded gasoline end-of-day spot prices.
This next chart shows the WTIC price over the past 8 months. As of March 17th, the WTIC end-of-day spot price for crude oil closed at $67.373, up 2.0% from last week. This is the first weekly increase in nine weeks, ending the longest streak of declines since 2023.
Inflation-Adjusted Reality
The volatility in crude oil and gasoline prices has been clearly reflected in recent years in both the consumer price index (CPI) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE). For additional perspective on how energy prices are factored into the CPI, see Inside the Consumer Price Index. In this next chart, we take a look at the same gasoline prices shown in the first chart but adjust for inflation using the CPI.
For an easier way to visualize the effects of inflation, this next chart overlays the nominal price with the real price for each type of gasoline (regular and premium).
ETFs associated with gasoline WTIC crude oil, and Brent crude oil include: United States Gasoline Fund LP (UGA), United States Oil Fund LP (USO), United States Brent Oil Fund LP (BNO), and Invesco DB Oil Fund (DBO).
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