Georgia gas prices break $3 barrier. This time, they’re going down

Georgia drivers have broken the three-buck-a-gallon barrier again — but this time, prices are headed in a more affordable direction.

The average price for regular gasoline in Georgia this week is down 9 cents to $2.97 per gallon, 27 cents less than a month ago and 47 cents below the price last year, according to AAA-The Auto Club Group.

“Here in Georgia, we haven’t seen gas dip below three bucks since January 24th,” said Montrae Waiters, the group’s spokeswoman.

The most expensive market in Georgia is Hinesville-Fort Stewart near the coast, where regular averages $3.10 a gallon, she said. Least expensive is Augusta, averaging $2.82 a gallon.

The lowest prices in the U.S. are in Texas, which averaged $2.68 a gallon, according to Gas Buddy, which collects information from drivers around the country.

At the other end of the spectrum were California, averaging $4.68 a gallon, and Hawaii at $4.58.

The average price in metro Atlanta on Monday was $2.98 a gallon with the lowest, non-club price being a RaceTrac in Norcross charging $2.49, Gas Buddy said.

While many factors affect pump prices, the story is generally one of supply and demand — and that demand for fuel typically drops after summer when many vacations are over.

The most important is the global price for oil, the main ingredient used to produce gasoline and diesel. That price, which spiked in the months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has been sliding in recent months.

In the United States, prices are also affected by hurricanes, which can shut down oil production and gasoline refining in and around the Gulf of Mexico , and has sometimes forced the shut-off of pipelines from the refineries to cities like Atlanta.

But Hurricane Francine is no longer battering the region.

Drilling platforms are reopening, and refineries have been operating at 92.8% of their capacity, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Diesel, which has been priced higher than gasoline for some time, now averages $3.57 a gallon, its lowest price since 2021, according to Gas Buddy.

Fuel prices were down overall for the seventh consecutive week, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

For gasoline, however, $3-a-gallon is a “psychological mark,” that spurred anxiety when prices were rising and relief now, he said.

Metro Atlanta gas prices hit their crest in June 2022: an average of $4.53 a gallon. That would have been tough to take anyhow, but it came after months of low prices early in the pandemic when millions of cars were not on the road.

Gas prices hit a five-year low of $1.62 a gallon in 2020.

They climbed as workers returned to the roads, reaching an average of $3.36 a gallon in late February 2022. And then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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