Gas prices locally fell in the past week due to lower gasoline demand, according to AAA Western and Central New York.
The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is now $2.44 in Buffalo, down a penny from a week ago, while prices in Rochester are $2.39 per gallon, down two cents from last week.
Statewide prices fell a penny to $2.48, but the price of gas actually went up a penny nationwide to $2.28.
AAA explains that pump prices have been pressured higher overall due to cuts in oil production globally, but increased U.S. production and low demand has led to a leveling out of prices over the last couple of weeks. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest weekly estimates of U.S. gasoline demand show that January 2017 figures are down 6 percent from January 2016 and are at their lowest standing for the first month of the year since 2012.
The potential for more U.S. oil production has kept a ceiling on oil prices and diminished the impact of efforts by OPEC and non-OPEC countries to cut production and rebalance global oil supply.
