Little Rock experiences the year’s first drop in gas prices

Little Rock, Arkansas – For the first time this year, according to a GasBuddy analysis, gas prices are falling in Little Rock and throughout the country.

According to a GasBuddy study of 334 Little Rock stations, the average price of gasoline has decreased by 3.5 cents a gallon in the past week, with a gallon costing an average of $3.09 as of Monday.

Little Rock’s gas prices are 14.9 cents more than they were one month ago and 4.9 cents higher than they were one year ago.

The cheapest station in Little Rock was priced at $2.90 per gallon on Sunday, while the most costly was $3.39 per gallon, a difference of 49.0 cents per gallon, according to GasBuddy price data. On Sunday, gas prices in the state ranged from $2.69 per gallon to $3.99 per gallon, a difference of $1.30 per gallon.

Neighboring areas and their current gas prices:

Memphis- $3.25 a gallon, down 5.3 cents per gallon from last week’s $3.30 a gallon.

Arkansas- $3.11 a gallon, down 3.3 cents per gallon from last week’s $3.14 a gallon.

Shreveport- $3.13 a gallon, down 6.4 cents per gallon from last week’s $3.19 a gallon.

“For the first time in 2023, the national average price of gasoline has seen a weekly decline, primarily thanks to a sharp and sudden drop in the price of oil,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “While the decline in both gasoline and diesel prices is terrific, it’s not unusual to see prices falling in February, which tends to be the month with some of the lowest gasoline prices of the year thanks to seasonally weak demand. For diesel, we’re likely to see more declines, and potentially much more significant in the weeks ahead as imports of distillate have accelerated, leading to a sell off. And, with warmer weather ahead, demand may struggle as well. However, especially for gasoline, high levels of coming maintenance and the eventual transition to summer gasoline could lead today’s declines to reverse down the road. For now, motorists should enjoy the decline, but be wary as we’re likely to eventually see increases again down the road.”

Diesel is now averaging $4.60 per gallon across the US, down 5.2 cents in the past week.

As of Monday, the national average price of gasoline was $3.44 a gallon, down 4.4 cents from the previous week.

The national average is up 17.5 cents a gallon from a month ago and is 1.7 cents per gallon more than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data that was compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering more than 150,000 gas stations throughout the nation.