COLUMBUS, Ohio – Call it a holiday miracle — gas below $3 a gallon.
Prices at the pump in Columbus have edged below $3 at many stations in the past couple of days, while lots of others are hovering around that mark.
The average retail price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Columbus Thursday morning was $3.03 a gallon, down 8 cents just since Monday, according to a daily survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX Inc.
The state average has dropped 6 cents since Monday to $3.08.
Ohio is one of the states which saw the biggest decline in prices over the past week following a price hike blamed on maintenance at a number of Gulf Coast refineries and seasonally stronger demand, AAA public relations manager Michael Green said. The trend reversed when the refineries came back on line.
After 15 straight seeks above $100 a barrel, Green says the price of crude oil has now settled below that mark for seven straight weeks.
According to ColumbusGarPrices.com, several stations were selling it for as low as $2.90 while the highest prices were around $3.20, mostly on the Northwest Side and in the OSU campus area.
Around the state, Toledo’s average Thursday was $2.95 and Dayton stations were averaging $3.00. The highest average price was $3.18 in the Youngstown area.
The national average Thursday was $3.25.