Local gas prices continue to fall

YOUNGSTOWN — Gas prices in the Youngstown-Warren area were listed at $3.364 today compared to $3.486 last year and $3.418 last week, according to AAA.

Northeast Ohio gas prices fell about 11 cents a gallon this week to $3.384. The national average was listed at $3.515 today.

The national average price for unleaded gasoline has dropped every day in July and has fallen on 32 consecutive days, which is just short of the multiyear record of 36 straight daily declines registered last fall.

Today’s average of $3.52 per gallon is five cents less than one week ago and 11 cents less than the same date last year.

Ohio is not the only state to see prices fall, as 46 other states and Washington, D.C., have also seen prices drop in the last week. Midwestern states are saving as much as a dime at the pump.

Motorists are paying the lowest average retail price at the pump since March 17. This is due to U.S. refineries running near their highest rates since 2005, according to the Energy Information Administration, and domestic demand that was reported last week to have dropped back below nine million barrels per day.