Pittsburgh's gas prices are dropping, but not as fast as in other parts of Pennsylvania
Gas prices in the Pittsburgh area have started to decline, but aren't dropping as fast as they are in other parts of Pennsylvania and the other parts of the country.
The agreement between the United States and Iran has had a positive impact on prices, but locally, the drop is not to the level others are enjoying.
While the prices are coming down, Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick De Haan said that they could be dropping here much faster.
It's a little encouraging for people at the pump these days as a 16 gallon fill-up is around $7 cheaper now that it was one month ago, but not so encouraging if you take the wider view of the Pittsburgh area's 34 cent per gallon drop over the last month.
"The national average for comparison, is down 67 cents in the last month," De Haan said. "Pennsylvania's state average is down 55 cents."
De Haan added that he's baffled by the comparison, noting that Pittsburgh is at the end of two pipelines and that retailers just are not moving lower fast enough.
With the national average price of gasoline now below $4 per gallon and Pennsylvania just over $4 per gallon, De Haan said there's room for movement locally.
"Prices are stubbornly high and it appears that retailers might not be in any hurry to lower them, and unfortunately, there's not much motorists can do, but find a lower price on the GasBuddy app and patronize those lower price stations," De Haan said.
De Haan said that wholesale gas price in the Pittsburgh area is eight cents more expensive in Philadelphia, but the price at the pump is at least 40 cents per gallon higher than it is in eastern Pennsylvania.
On the bright side, prices are dropping as the 4th of July holiday approaches, but the situation is still volatile and totally dependent on the politics surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire, which has been completely unpredictable.
