Utah gas prices down slightly

SALT LAKE CITY — Thirty-one states, including Utah, have lower gasoline prices than a week ago — a downward trend that is typical for this time of year in some parts of the country, according to AAA Utah.

The current price for a gallon of regular unleaded in Utah was $3.75 — 3 cents lower than a week ago and 8 cents lower than last month’s AAA gasoline report. The majority of Utah cities reported lower prices than last month except for St. George.

Provo enjoyed the biggest drop in pump prices at 10 cents, followed by a 7-cent decline for Salt Lake City motorists.

The national average price continues to set records with the current price at $3.82 per gallon. That was 4 cents higher than a week ago and 42 cents higher than a year ago.

“The normal seasonal trend in lower gasoline prices was skewed by California’s record breaking increase of 50 cents a gallon last week,” said AAA Utah spokeswoman Rolayne Fairclough. “The surging prices in California were from concerns about low gasoline supplies and were exacerbated by a power outage last Monday at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, Calif.”

While the national average price has been extremely high over the past few weeks, there was some downward movement with lower crude prices, challenging economic news, and the end to the high demand of summer driving, she added.

Global oil prices are moving lower in response to bearish economic news overseas, Fairclough said. After briefly falling below $90 per barrel in late September, West Texas Intermediate oil prices settled below the $90 mark at the end of last week — falling to $89.33 per barrel.