Susquehanna Valley gas prices fell almost two cents to $3.66 a gallon this week, according to AAA East Central.
On the national front
Tuesday's national average price for regular unleaded gasoline is $3.56 per gallon, the price is three cents less expensive than one week ago and 26 cents behind the same day last year, but it is fractions of a penny more than a month ago.
With summer travel in the rearview for many motorists, retail gas prices are likely to continue moving lower through the fall due to plentiful supplies, continued weaker demand and the mid-September switch to cheaper winter-blend gasoline.
While this would be welcome news for motorists, the possibility does remain that escalating violence in the Middle East, hurricanes or other unexpected disruptions to supply or distribution could send gasoline prices at least temporarily higher in the coming months.
While retail gas prices have stayed within a relatively narrow 20-cent range since March (between $3.47 and $3.67), West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil has surged more than 25 percent from a 2013-low of $86.68 on April 17 to a multi-year high of $110.53 last Friday.
Oil prices have remained elevated as tensions in the Middle East and North Africa have escalated and the U.S. publicly considers military action in Syria, and there is potential for prices to move higher should violence spread to other countries in the region. At the close of Monday's formal trading on the NYMEX, WTI settled at $109.52.
(AAA East Central - a not-for-profit association with 82 local offices in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, New York and Kentucky servicing 2.7 million members - provides Fuel Gauge each week.)