Gas prices continued a weeks-long decline Friday, averaging $3.89 per gallon for regular gasoline in the Lima area.
LIMA — The average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline in Lima has fallen by $1.16 since early June, as a decline in crude oil prices and lower demand for fuel has caused pump prices across the U.S. to plummet in recent weeks.
The estimates come from online fuel tracker GasBuddy, which show that regular gasoline prices here peaked on June 9 at an average cost of $5.05 per gallon.
By Friday, unleaded gasoline was selling for an average of $3.89 per gallon in the Lima area, while some parts of the city saw prices as low as $3.63 per gallon — lower than the national $4.22 average.
Ohio is one of 18 states where average fuel prices have fallen below $4 per gallon, as fuel prices across the state have decreased by an average of 22 cents per gallon in the last week—the fourth largest weekly decline in the U.S., according to GasBuddy.
Still, a gallon of gasoline in the Lima area was an average of 99 cents more expensive Friday than the same day last year, during which prices were already rising after the pandemic-fueled slump in demand. And it is unclear whether the decline in gas prices will continue.
“Consumers appear to be taking the pressure off their wallets by fueling up less,” AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said in a press release Monday. “And there’s reason to be cautiously optimistic that pump prices will continue to fall, particularly if the global price for oil does not spike. But the overall situation remains volatile.”
