June 5, 2017 – After Kansas drivers last week experienced the 7th largest gas price increase in the United States, with average pump prices rising 4 cents to $2.21 per gallon, average prices this week declined 2 cents to $2.19 per gallon. Kansas’ average gas price registers 10th lowest in the nation this week.
Eight of the 10 regularly reported Kansas metro areas (See chart below) are enjoying lower or flat gas prices compared with one week ago, the exceptions being Manhattan and Salina, which both saw a 1-cent increase. All are showing prices that are flat or showing only single digit percentage increases from this time a year ago.
|
Today |
Last Week |
Last Month |
Last Year |
Change Over Last Year |
|
| National |
$2.38 |
$2.37 |
$2.36 |
$2.36 |
1% |
| Kansas |
$2.19 |
$2.21 |
$2.20 |
$2.17 |
1% |
| Emporia |
$2.16 |
$2.16 |
$2.20 |
$2.09 |
3% |
| Garden City |
$2.10 |
$2.12 |
$2.25 |
$2.10 |
0% |
| Hays |
$2.21 |
$2.22 |
$2.30 |
$2.13 |
4% |
| KCK |
$2.22 |
$2.24 |
$2.24 |
$2.22 |
0% |
| Lawrence |
$2.25 |
$2.27 |
$2.27 |
$2.25 |
0% |
| Manhattan |
$2.17 |
$2.16 |
$2.15 |
$2.16 |
0% |
| Pittsburg |
$2.11 |
$2.11 |
$2.15 |
$2.08 |
1% |
| Salina |
$2.20 |
$2.19 |
$2.11 |
$2.11 |
4% |
| Topeka |
$2.16 |
$2.17 |
$2.22 |
$2.09 |
3% |
| Wichita |
$2.19 |
$2.23 |
$2.18 |
$2.16 |
1% |
Bordering states and rank in lowest gas prices around the country
| State |
Current Avg. |
Rank Today |
Last Week |
| Oklahoma |
$2.09 |
3 |
5 |
| Missouri |
$2.12 |
7 |
8 |
| Kansas |
$2.19 |
10 |
11 |
| Colorado |
$2.36 |
28 |
31 |
| Nebraska |
$2.31 |
17 |
21 |
The EIA report for the week ending on May 26th showed some encouraging trends related to gasoline demand. It came in at a record of 9.822 million barrels per day (b/d) – 7,000 b/d ahead of the previous record from last June. However, the report also showed that week’s gasoline output from refineries topped 10 million b/d, for the fourth week in a row, and the level was the highest since early November of last year. Strong refinery output rates show that instead of diminishing existing stocks of gasoline to meet demand, refineries are continuing to replenish the gasoline they have in storage with newly produced gasoline. The result is that storage levels still remain high, so refineries can pull stocks from storage to meet higher driver demand without needing more oil to produce higher levels of gasoline.
Moreover, U.S. oil production continues to grow. Baker Hughes, Inc. reported in its report last week that oil rigs grew by 11, landing at 733. This record-breaking oil exploration in the United States will continue to increase crude inventories. Only time will tell if growing demand for refined products, like gasoline, will begin to chip away at global crude inventories, increasing prices per barrel – which could lead drivers to pay more at the pump.