Despite Cost You Feel at the Pump, Gas Prices Trending Lower in Louisiana

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) - Gas prices could be a whole lot worse for us in Louisiana.

The average price for a gallon of gas in Louisiana today is $3.12, according to AAA. In Lafayette Parish, the average is slightly higher at $3.16 a gallon. While $3-a-gallon gas is still not cheap, that's actually a lot better than it was a year ago - at $4.56 a gallon.

“We anticipated that we would be at this time of the year looking anywhere between $3.25 to $3.50 a gallon," says AAA Fuel Analyst Don Redman to our news partners at Louisiana Radio Network. "So we’re even beating those expectations. It’s getting back more in line to what we saw in 2019. It’s a big relief for sure.”

And, Louisiana continues to trend well below the national average for regular gas - $3.58 a gallon.

Redman says the price of oil is staying around $70 a barrel, which is keeping the prices from exploding upward as the demand is lower than expected.

But, gas prices always go up during the summer months, right? Can we expect to see that big jump we have all been waiting for? Besides a potential bump during the Fourth of July holiday, Redman says he doesn't expect any major jumps, barring a major storm or hurricane shutting down refineries, of course.

With that being said, it's good to keep an eye on the Saudi's. Earlier this month, Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman announced the country was slashing its oil supply next month by 1 million barrels a day, something abcnews noted him referring to as a "lollipop."

Time will tell.