Previously rising higher than the national average price for normal gasoline, gas prices in New Jersey are now on the decline.
And experts predict that this trend will continue till Christmas.
Patrick De Haan, the senior petroleum expert for Gas Buddy, believes that Santa will arrive at lower prices. In the next month, the price of the stock could fall by an additional 10 to 20 cents.
Now that cold weather has set in and traffic has slowed down, cutting demand for gasoline, he said, prices are finally experiencing the seasonal decline.
All of the warm autumn weather prompted road trips and boosted fuel use, which slowed the typical post-summer price drop.
“The colder it gets, the less conducive it is to travel by car,” he remarked.
The average price of standard drinks declined one cent in a week, from $3.88 on November 18 to $3.77 on Friday, according to AAA. The state is still priced higher than the national average of $3.60 per gallon.
Smart drivers may typically locate lower-than-average pricing at petrol stations along their normal route. On Friday, Gas Buddy reported a statewide low price of $3.19 at two gas stations in the Delta of Bergen County.
He added that COVID also plays a role in China.
De Haan stated, “It has to do with the COVID outbreak in China… it’s prompting China to close cities.” The ripple effect decreases oil usage.
This resulted in what he termed a “bloodbath” on oil commodity markets, with the price of a barrel of crude oil plummeting to $77 a barrel, the lowest price since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Oil prices jumped marginally to $80 a barrel on Friday, the NASDAQ reported.
Other causes were that more oil refineries resumed functioning again following the halt for maintenance, De Haan added.
“Gas prices bottom out between January and February, there will be a bit more downward pressure,” he said. “Geopolitical variables, will the economy slow down, there’s a lot that might broaden or shrink the goalpost.”
