Gas prices continue to rise while demand and production volume show decrease

WASHINGTON — The price of gasoline continued its upward trend Saturday while newly released data show a recent decrease in consumer demand and production volume. 

The national retail average for a gallon of regular gasoline ticked up a few cents overnight to $3.925. That’s up 25 cents from one week ago. 

Diesel is averaging $5.208 per gallon, which is $1.50 more per gallon than one month ago. 

The highest price for gas is still in California, where the average cost per gallon of regular was $5.70 as of Saturday. Two other states, Washington and Hawaii, were also averaging above $5 per gallon. 

The same three states were reporting averages above $6 per gallon for diesel, with California at $6.767, Washington at $6.346, and Hawaii at $6.138. 

No states had averages below $3 per gallon as of Saturday, but the lowest average cost per gallon could be found in Oklahoma at $3.257. Fewer than 10 states had prices averaging below $3.50 per gallon. 

Oklahoma also had the lowest average for the price of diesel at $4.413 per gallon. 

The highest recorded national average for regular unleaded gas was $5.016 on June 14, 2022, according to AAA. For diesel, it was $5.816 on June 19, 2022. 

A new report from AAA shows a decrease in gasoline demand, supply, and production. 

Gasoline demand last week decreased from 9.24 million barrels per day to 8.72 million barrels per day, AAA reported, citing new data from the Energy Information Administration. 

Domestic supply also decreased from 249.0 million barrels to 244 million barrels, and production decreased as well, averaging roughly 9.4 barrels per day, the report stated.