Bay Area gas prices continue falling; some stations drop under $5/gallon
BURLINGAME – Gas prices have now dropped for the last 70 days. The national average for regular gas is now $3.89/gallon, and the average in California is now $5.31/gallon, according to AAA figures.
Many Bay Area drivers are noticing the change, as some stations are now charging less than $5 for a gallon of regular.
"It's a lot lower. I'm commuting from San Francisco down to San Mateo, so that definitely helps," said Toki Burke. "I fill up every two weeks, so it's noticeable. Each time I come to the pump, it's definitely lower than the last time."
Patrick De Haan, the head of Petroleum Analysis at Gas Buddy, says it's a 'rarity' to see a decline in prices last this long.
"A lot of this is due to concerns over the broader economy, the Federal Reserve raising interest rates – and that could slow the economy down or put it in a recession – which could then slash oil consumption. Not only that, but gasoline supplies have increased modestly over the second half of the summer. Both of those are pushing prices down," De Haan told KPIX 5. "We are starting to see more stations in the Bay Area fall under that $5 a gallon mark."
However, De Haan said there is potential the downward trend could be losing some steam.
"We may start to see the decreases taper off in the next couple of weeks, and we could see prices bouncing up," he said. "I would think that we're a couple of weeks away. It's going to be a close call. I think the statewide average in California, which stands at about $5.25 today, I think California's state average could fall under $5. I don't know if San Francisco is going to get there."
De Haan says there is still considerable volatility at the pump.
"There's never been a year that we've seen such volatility at the gas pump. We've never seen the national average go from $3 to $4 to $5, and then back to $4 and back to $3 in a single year," he said. "There's still a lot of economic news for the market to digest. OPEC also threatened today to cut oil production in the months ahead. That concern has oil prices jumping back up to about $94 a barrel today."
If oil prices continue to rise, that could have an impact on the price consumers pay at the pump.
"We're not out of the woods yet when it comes to volatility, and the prices may slowly inch up," De Haan said. "But I am hopeful that we've already seen the worst for 2022 at the pump."
Burke sure hopes so.
"Back in the day, yeah, $5 was so expensive. But now I'm like, happy to see it this low," he said. "If we get down to $4.50 that would be great. I'm not sure how realistic that is, but we'll see."
