After dropping by seven cents last week, gas prices in South Central Ohio dropped by another eight cents this week to $2.304 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.

Gas prices decreased at the pump across the Great Lakes and Central region this week; Ohio prices are down 7 cents statewide, and land on the list of top 10 decreases across the country.

With a slight build of 612,000 barrels, gasoline inventories in the region measure at 58 million barrels, according to the latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) report. Although the region has seen steady inventory build for seven straight weeks, current levels sit 2.2 million barrels below this time last year yet they are about 1 billion barrels ahead of the five-year average.

Today’s average prices: South Central Ohio Average $2.304

Average price during the week of Feb. 12, 2018 $2.386

Average price during the week of Feb. 21, 2017 $2.116

Here is the price per gallon of unleaded self-serve gasoline in various areas:

$2.466 Athens

$2.215 Chillicothe

$2.237 Columbiana

$2.407 East Liverpool

$2.405 Gallipolis

$2.195 Hillsboro

$2.331 Ironton

$2.314 Jackson

$2.234 Logan

$2.412 Marietta

$2.288 Portsmouth

$2.214 Steubenville

$2.282 Washington Court House

$2.251 Waverly

On the National Front

The national gas price average has been steadily decreasing for nearly two weeks dropping from the year-to-date high of $2.61 (on February 5) to today’s national average of $2.53. Motorists in nearly every state are paying less on the week with Midwest and Southern states seeing the largest price drops at the pump. Hawaii (+2 cents) and Indiana (+1 cent) were the only states to see increases.

Today’s national gas price average is 4 cent less than one week ago, 1 cent more than a month ago, but 25 cents more than a year ago.

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session on the NYMEX, West Texas Intermediate increased 34 cents to settle at $61.68. Crude prices may continue to trend higher this week amid signs of continued growth in U.S. oil production. In fact, last week’s EIA petroleum report revealed that U.S. oil production grew 332,000 b/d, putting total crude output at 10.271 million b/d. Likewise, U.S. crude inventories rose for a third straight week by 1.8 million bbl. Inventory levels now total 422.1 million bbl. Moreover, according to Baker Hughes, the U.S. added 7 oil rigs last week bringing the total rig count to 798.

Motorists can find current gas prices at GasPrices.AAA.com.

AAA East Central is a not-for-profit association with 81 local offices in Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia serving 2.7 million members. News releases are available at news.eastcentral.aaa.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.