New York drivers paid an average of about $4.40 a gallon for regular gasoline Thursday, down nearly 4 cents from a week earlier but still above the national average of $4.27.
AAA’s Oct. 22 price data put the state average at $4.4041, compared with $4.4405 a week earlier. The national average fell 6 cents over the same week, AAA said.
Local averages move lower
Regular gasoline averaged about $4.39 in the Rochester metro area, $4.34 in Syracuse and $4.40 in Ithaca. Each was below its level a week earlier.
The averages were about $4.27 in Elmira, $4.42 in Binghamton and $4.35 in Batavia, also down from the previous week. These are metro-area averages, rather than prices at a particular station.
New York’s statewide average was about $4.49 a month earlier and $3.12 a year earlier. Thursday’s price was roughly 13 cents above the national average and $1.28 above the state’s year-earlier level.
Oil prices limit the decline
AAA attributed the national weekly decline to the seasonal switch to winter-blend gasoline, which costs less to produce and typically costs consumers less at the pump.
Crude oil was nearing $100 a barrel amid instability in the Strait of Hormuz, however, limiting how far gasoline prices could fall, the organization said in its weekly fuel update.
AAA said October was on track to become the most expensive October on record for gasoline. That would follow record-high prices for the months of August and September this year.
For electric-vehicle drivers, the national average price at a public charging station held at 41 cents per kilowatt-hour over the past week.
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