National drop in gas prices skips Pittsburgh area, frustrating drivers

Rick Toney was pumping gas as a kid in the 1970s. And he’s still doing it today for his cousin, Joe Shamey, owner of Shamey’s Gulf Service on Tarentum Bridge Road in New Kensington.

It’s one of the few, maybe only, full-service gas stations in the area. So Toney hears a lot from customers about the price of gas.

“They hate it,” he said Wednesday. He said that some talk about going to electric cars. “Customers are tired of paying this kind of money.”

Maddie Therasse’s job in sales takes her far from her home in Tennessee — she was at a Marathon station in Tarentum on Wednesday. Prices were cheaper down south, she said, “at least when I left.”

“I think it’s ridiculous,” she said of the price of gasoline. “It’s not like my base salary is going up.”

While Shamey said he has yet to see signs that prices will be coming down anytime soon — regular unleaded was $3.55 a gallon at his station Wednesday — industry analysts like Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy.com say lower gas prices are coming nationwide. De Haan cited a recent fall in oil prices brought by concerns over the omicron covid variant, travel restrictions and declining demand.

The U.S. confirmed its first case of the omicron variant Wednesday in California.

“There remains a very high level of uncertainty ahead of us as OPEC has also delayed its meetings to await more market movements and information on omicron,” said De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “But so far, Americans can expect the new variant to push gas prices even lower.”

Although GasBuddy found a 3.4-cent decline in the national average, to $3.37, since last week, gas prices in Pittsburgh were unchanged at an average of $3.55, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations.

In addition to the price of gasoline, Pennsylvanians also pay an extra 58.7 cents per gallon in taxes — third highest in the nation behind the nearly 67 cents charged in California and the 59.6 cents levied in Illinois, the Tax Foundation reported this summer.

Compared to a year ago, the national average is $1.26 higher, while the Pittsburgh average is $1.05 higher.

GasBuddy found prices in Pittsburgh ranging from a low of $3.32 per gallon up to $3.69. Statewide, the lowest price was $3.21, while the highest was $4.39.

Looking at Western Pennsylvania, AAA found gas prices were one cent lower than last week, at about $3.57 per gallon, about $1.02 more than a year ago. AAA found prices ranging from a low of about $3.52 in Greensburg up to about $3.64 in Mercer.

According to AAA, upon news of the covid omicron variant Friday, crude oil prices fell by $10.24 to $68.15. Global prices fell on demand concerns and travel restrictions announced in the U.S. and elsewhere.

“With little known about the new variant, it’s unclear at this point what long-term impact it may have on crude prices,” AAA’s analysis said.

Last week, President Biden ordered 50 million barrels of oil released from the nation’s strategic reserve to help bring down energy costs. De Haan said its impact “was negligible at best … due to its relatively small size and that most (of) the oil is on loan and must be replaced down the road.”

“Beyond the next few weeks, it remains nearly impossible to predict where oil and gas prices will head, though turbulence is guaranteed,” De Haan said.

Shamey said he gets price updates daily. If any reduction comes, he said he’ll have to sell what he’s already paid for in his tanks before motorists will see it.

“We’ll see what happens,” he said. “Time will tell.”