Iowans Can Say Goodbye To Low Gas Prices
I think everyone is doing their best to see some positives as we all cope with the Covid-19 crisis. One of the good things is we were seeing some of the lowest gas prices in years. However, that may all be coming to an end.
For the first time since early March, the national average price of gasoline has moved higher.
Patrick DeHaan, the head of petroleum analysis at Gas Buddy.com stated:
“It’s becoming a bit clearer that those 99 cent per gallon gas prices from the COVID-19 pandemic are solidly behind us as gasoline demand rebounds across the country as cities and states slowly reopen. The lowest priced stations in the country will see some upward movement, but most areas will still see declines”
Dehaan went on to explain that there's a disconnect between low oil prices and rising gasoline prices. Couple that with refineries that have slowed production over the past month to avoid flooding the market with unwanted gasoline. Dehaan expects prices to potentially go up, but only in the lower priced states, as now we have to wait and see how quickly refineries getting rolling again to keep up with demand.
There were times over the past couple weeks, where gas was spotted under a $1 in the Cedar Valley, however the lowest recorded average on Gas Buddy was $1.28. That's still the cheapest prices in decades. As of Tuesday afternoon Gas Buddy's live ticking average was $1.67 a gallon in Waterloo/Cedar Falls. That's up 14 cents from Monday and a whopping 38 cents from last week. If you want to look on the bright side of those numbers. First of all, parts of the state are starting to "open up", people are driving more. Also, if you look back a year ago at this time, the average price per gallon was $2.70. I think I speak for everyone when I say, we'd trade this national nightmare, and gladly pay $2.70 a gallon, in exchange for COVID-19 never happening.
Get up to the minute updates on gas prices with Gas Buddy.com's Top 10 Lowest Gas Prices & Best Gas Stations in Waterloo on their app. If you hurry, you can still buy gas for as low as $1.22, as of Tuesday afternoon.