Less stress at the pump as gas prices continue to ease

Published 1:00 pm Monday, May 15, 2023

Even as the school year winds down and families prepare to travel for summer vacations, they may find less stress at the gasoline pumps. Gas prices have continued to ease back as the average across Mississippi dropped 3.9 cents per gallon over the past week.

The average price of gas in the state Monday morning was $2.93 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s survey of more than 2,000 stations. Prices are 21.6 cents lower than just one month ago, and $1.12.7 less than one year ago on this date.

The least expensive station in Mississippi was $2.69 Sunday and the most expensive was $3.39 — a difference of 70 cents per gallon.

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The national average has risen, however, bumping up 0.4 cents per gallon over the past week to reach $3.51 Monday. The average is still down 14.9 cents from one month ago and 95.6 cents per gallon less than one year ago, according to date compiled from more than 150,000 stations nationwide.

Historical gas prices in Mississippi and the national average going back 10 years on May 15:

2022 — $4.05 (U.S. $4.46)

2021 — $2.70 (U.S. $3.04)

2020 — $1.49 (U.S. $1.86)

2019 — $2.46 (U.S. $2.86)

2018 — $2.57 (U.S. $2.89)

2017 — $2.08 (U.S. $2.33)

2016 — $1.99 (U.S. $2.22)

2015 — $2.41 (U.S. $2.70)

2014 — $3.43 (U.S. $3.64)

2013 — $3.28 (U.S. $3.59)

“With oil prices bouncing back over $70 per barrel after reaching as low as $66 in early May, we’ve seen gasoline prices move higher in some states, while others have continued to decline- the national average has seen little change as a result, but overall, gasoline prices continue to see significant relief from year ago levels,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “We’re likely to soon see gasoline prices slip to their largest year on year deficit since Covid hit, when prices fell over $1 per gallon from 2019- so the relief at the pump as been significant, and even though the gas price decline hit pause last week, it’s looking more likely that barring a major hurricane or series of refinery outages, the national average may not end up hitting the $4 per gallon mark- something that will make most motorists very happy. For those in Arizona that have seen gas prices spike during the spring, significant relief is starting and should even accelerate over the weeks ahead.”
GasBuddy data is accessible at http://prices.GasBuddy.com.