Gas prices down slightly from last week

Congratulations, you had another price break at gas pumps this week.

Fuel price monitoring service GasBuddy.com said prices dropped 2 cents on average in the Tacoma area in the past week.

Nationwide, gas prices dropped 3.3 cents a gallon in the same time frame.

Don’t get too excited. Prices are still about 55 cents higher than this time a year ago, according to GasBuddy’s Monday news release.

The low price leaders Monday in the Tacoma area were two Arco stations, at 13005 Gravelly Lake Drive SW in Lakewood and at 1101 N. Pearl St. in Tacoma, both at $2.43 a gallon.

The low price leader Monday in Olympia was APP, 1312 Fones Road SE at $2.44 a gallon.

According to Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy: “Average prices now stand at their lowest thus far in 2017 and the lowest since before Christmas, thanks primarily to weak demand for gasoline and also bulging inventories of gasoline.”

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 12:08 PM with the headline "Gas prices down slightly from last week."