Mass. Gas Prices Keep Falling with Help From Hurricane Dorian

BOSTON —Massachusetts gas prices continue to fall as Hurricane Dorian pounds the southeast and the unofficial end of summer sends children on the SouthCoast back to school.

According to GasBuddy's daily survey of 2,830 stations, gas prices fell 2.4 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.58 per gallon on Tuesday. Gas prices in the Bay State are 11.9 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, yet stand 29.1 cents per gallon lower than at this time last year.

GasBuddy price reports found the cheapest station in the state is priced at $2.26 per gallon Tuesday while the most expensive is $3.03 per gallon, a difference of 77 cents per gallon. The cheapest price in the entire country Tuesday stands at $1.61 per gallon while the most expensive is $4.99 per gallon, a difference of $3.38 per gallon.

"With last week's decline in the national average, the tally now stands at seven straight weeks of decline, and heading into the fall, its nearly guaranteed that gas prices will continue to fall as we switch back to cheaper winter gasoline and demand plummets, especially as Hurricane Dorian shuts down the Southeast," said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy.

"While a China/U.S. trade deal could undermine the normal seasonal decline in prices that we anticipate, it's still nearly guaranteed that average gas prices in nearly every state will stand lower on Thanksgiving and Christmas versus where we stand today. With the changeover to winter gasoline just two weeks away for a bulk of the country, we believe there will be additional drops in gas prices ahead.  For those concerned about pricing impacts from Hurricane Dorian, we remind motorists that not all hurricanes impact prices- in fact, few truly leave a mark- the last being Hurricane Harvey in 2017 which impressively, knocked out a third of all U.S. refining capacity. The number of refineries seeing such impacts for Dorian will likely be zero, and that makes all the difference. GasBuddy's app also continues to track where motorists can find gas in Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina with Dorian bearing down."

The national average price of gasoline has fallen 1.9 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $2.56 currently. The national average is down 14.6 cents per gallon from a month ago, yet stands 26.1 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.