This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Drivers across the country are seeing the lowest gas prices since February 2011, and Utah drivers are benefiting from that downward cost trend.
The average price for a gallon of gasoline in Utah is $3.23, which is 7 cents lower than a week ago and 28 cents lower than last month and 48 cents lower than a year ago, according to AAA.
Utah's average price dropped 43 cents since Sept. 1 and has fallen 71 of the 73 days since then. Seventeen states in the West and Northeast have higher prices than Utah, according to a statement from AAA.
"Utah gasoline prices traditionally reflect extreme increases during the summer months when they register among the highest in the nation and then drop to the lowest levels in the winter months," said Rolayne Fairclough, AAA Utah spokeswoman. "The last time prices in Utah were this low was in February. Utah's average price was below the $3 mark for most of the month of January, also this year."
All Utah cities the AAA tracks reported double-digit drops in average prices, with Ogden dropping the most, 34 cents, to $3.15 per gallon. The smallest decrease, 15 cents, was in St. George, where drivers are paying an average of $3.41 per gallon. Moab drivers are paying the most of those cities surveyed at $3.50 per gallon while Provo drivers are paying the least at $3.10.
The national average is $3.18 per gallon.
After 15 straight weeks above $100 per barrel, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil has now settled below this mark for three straight weeks, the statement said. A five-month low of $93.37 was recorded a week ago on Nov. 5. WTI prices moved up the last half of the week and settled at $94.62 per barrel at the close of formal trading Monday on the NYMEX.