Gas Prices Continue to Fall Over Fears of Omicron Variant
According to a press release by GasBuddy, gas prices in Wyoming have fallen 6.7 cents in the past week, averaging $3.31 a gallon today, according to daily surveys of 494 stations in Wyoming.
Gas prices in Wyoming are 9.3 cents per gallon lower than a month ago and $1.17 a gallon higher than a year ago, with the cheapest station in Wyoming at $2.79 a gallon, while the most expensive one is $3.84 a gallon.
On the national level, the average price of gas has fallen only 2.4 cents in the last week, averaging $3.32 a gallon today.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said fears of the omicron variant of COVID-19 have led to some of the decreases in gas prices.
"With the price of crude oil remaining some $13 per barrel below its 2021 peak, we have continued to see gas prices decline in nearly every city coast to coast, a trend that will likely continue into yet another week," De Haan said. "Omicron concerns continue to be the primary catalyst for the drop in gas prices across much of the country. While we've seen some anecdotal reports about the new variant, vaccine producers have yet to definitively state if current vaccines will still bring adequate protection against omicron- something that might be critical to limit severity and to avoid new shutdowns. With OPEC+ members still planning to boost oil production in January, we continue to see global oil production slowly rising. In addition, U.S. gasoline demand last week fell to the lowest level since October, which may limit oil's recent rebound and keep gas prices declining through the end of the year."
Crude oil production is higher than it was when the pandemic started, going from a low of around 10,000,000 barrels per day in May 2020, up to around 11,300,000 barrels per day in August 2021, and down to 10,809,000 in September.
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