Gas prices in West Central Kentucky held steady this week at $2.074, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.
This week’s average prices: Western Central KY Average $2.074
Average price during the week of December 28, 2020 $2.070
Average price during the week of January 6, 2020 $2.366
Average prices of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:
$2.141 Bowling Green
$1.990 Elizabethtown
$2.237 Louisville
$1.949 Owensboro
$2.055 Paducah
Trend Analysis:
While the national gas price average ($2.25) is nine cents more than last month, January gas prices are already 33 cents cheaper than this time last year. That is the largest year-over-year difference at the beginning of January since 2015.
Today’s average has remained unchanged for the past 12 days. This pump price stability is credited to consistent crude oil prices in late December, about $47-48/barrel, combined with low demand. U.S. gasoline demand, as recorded by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), was at the lowest level for the last week of December in 23 years (since 1998) – at 8.1 million b/d.
AAA expects demand to dwindle in coming weeks and gas prices to likely be cheaper, especially if crude oil holds at the current price point. How high or low gas prices will go in 2021 will largely depend on crude oil prices, supply and demand. AAA expects that as the Coronavirus vaccine becomes more widely available and if states loosen travel restrictions, Americans will begin to drive more which will lead to an impact at the pump.
Motorists can find current gas prices nationwide, statewide, and countywide at GasPrices.AAA.com.
AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 73 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members. News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.