Gas prices hit a 3-year low – where are they headed next?

FILE-A customer refuels a vehicle at a Wawa gas station in Fairfax, Virginia, US, on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Moriah Ratner/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Drivers are getting relief at the pump this week as the average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. reached a three-year low.

AAA’s tracker for national average gas prices on Tuesday morning indicated the cost of a gallon of regular-grade gas was $3.01.

Andrew Gross, a spokesperson for the organization, said the national average "is tantalizingly close to falling below $3 a gallon, and it could happen in a few days."

Oklahoma, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas and Kansas were among some of the states seeing the cheapest prices at the pump last week, AAA said.

This comes as finished motor gasoline showed demand for 8.738 million barrels per day for the week ending Nov. 29 in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration. 

Nationwide, the per-gallon average for gas was last below $3 in mid-May 2021, according to AAA. 

MILLIONS OF CAR OWNERS ARE DELAYING MAINTENANCE REPAIRS AS COSTS RISE

GasBuddy, which also monitors fuel prices, said the average cost of gas ticked below $3 on Monday.

"I think we’re closing in on a bottom," Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis, told FOX Business. "We may stay within five to 10 cents per gallon of today’s $2.99 national average for the next week or two. We could start inching up around Christmas or New Year’s by a nickel or dime. It won’t be much, but then we start the seasonal rise in mid-February or so, when prices will start rising more noticeably."

Regular gas averaged $3.15 per gallon a year ago, according to AAA.

The highest level average prices ever hit was $5.01 in June two years ago.

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