Post-holiday gas prices slightly higher, but stable

Jul 6, 2024- The American Automobile Association on Saturday reported that the nation’s average price for regular unleaded gasoline stood at $3.509 a gallon, one of the lower average prices for a July 4 holiday in the past five years.  

As the country heads out of the holiday weekend, drivers were paying a half-penny a gallon less than the previous day, but were paying on average a little over a cent more than a week ago.  

Last year at this time, regular unleaded gas was priced at $3.529 a gallon and at this point in June, it was $3.487. In comparison, two years ago, the highest recorded average price was $5.016 a gallon, which occurred on June 14, 2022.  

Mississippi’s average price of $2.991 a gallon for regular unleaded gas is slightly up from Friday but is just under five cents more than one week ago. It’s also slightly more than June ($2.982) and one year ago ($2.966).  

The Magnolia State has had the lowest average state price in the country for regular unleaded gasoline over the last several weeks, as low as $2.911 a gallon on June 27.  

Stations in Petal and in Brandon were reporting the lowest prices in Mississippi at $2.69 on Saturday.  

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy said, “While the first half of the summer has been relatively smooth sailing, the road ahead may be bumpy. Activity in the tropics has increased, and projections remain for a very busy hurricane season.”