Gasoline prices at the pump have finally returned to levels we might consider normal, giving holiday travelers a reprieve with what is expected to be the lowest Christmas Day fuel cost in four years, according to insights from GasBuddy.
The long wait appears to be over. After two challenging years dealing with market disruptions caused by the pandemic and the effects of the conflict in Ukraine, things are settling down, as noted by Patrick De Haan, who leads petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. As a result, drivers across the nation can anticipate a Christmas Day gas price averaging around $2.95 per gallon, the most affordable it’s been on this holiday since 2020, based on GasBuddy’s predictions.
It’s a return to normalcy for fuel prices, influenced by several factors. These include the Federal Reserve’s actions to temper economic activity through increased interest rates, economic struggles in China—which ranks as the world’s second-largest oil consumer—and perhaps most significantly, the passage of time aiding in market adjustments, as stated by GasBuddy in a release issued Tuesday.
As of late Tuesday morning, the typical price at the pump for a gallon of gas stood at $3.025, as reported by GasBuddy. Notably, the peak for this year came in April when the prices escalated to $3.70 per gallon.
