STATEWIDE–Gas prices have been dropping for three straight weeks. That is a trend that could be stopping soon, but that remains unclear.
“We could see an end to it. The only reason we haven’t seen prices move up is because there was a lot of margin. As prices have come down, stations have lowered their prices slower than the drop in wholesale prices. Thankfully they haven’t gone up yet,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.
In Indiana, prices have gone down about 11 cents in the last week. With this being a tricky situation, DeHaan offers this advice.
“If it was me, I would try to fill up this week if I can see a station going below $3.50 per gallon. It’s probably a 60% chance that we get out of this week without a price hike, but that just means we’ll have a higher likelihood for next week,” said DeHaan.
DeHaan believes that “now that refinery issues have largely been resolved,” we’ll get back into our “normal behavior of price cycles every week or two.”
As long as Russia continues its war with Ukraine, that will also keep fuel prices high.
“That war is causing other countries to keep refusing to buy Russian oil. So that basically is causing an imbalance between supply and demand with the higher prices as a result. I think the market will eventually get around Russia, but it will take a couple of years for us to completely offset Russia’s influence,” said DeHaan.
GasBuddy says the statewide average is $3.82.
