Tacoma and Olympia gas prices continue sinking

You can still pay as much as $2.49 for a gallon of regular-grade gasoline in the Tacoma area, but bargain hunters have several opportunities to pay well below $2.

The lowest price recorded Monday by the online data analytics site GasBuddy.com came in at $1.84 per gallon as reported at a Shell outlet on Pacific Highway Southwest. Two South Tacoma stations, APP and Costco, stood at $1.86 per gallon, while several stations in the area were a penny higher.

GasBuddy reported Monday that average retail gasoline prices at 271 Tacoma outlets have fallen 11.1 cents over the past week, now averaging $2.21 per gallon.

In the Olympia area, the lowest price Monday, $1.86 per gallon, was recorded at an APP outlet on Fones Road Southeast. Two Fast Fuel stations stood at $1.89, while a handful of stations noted prices ranging from $1.93 to $1.99 per gallon.

Current prices in the South Sound are 1.2 cents higher than a year ago and 27.1 cents lower than one month ago. “Crude oil futures have lost 18 percent of value since the end of 2015 and have cleared the way for the retail gasoline price decline,” said Will Speer, GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst, in a weekly release.

This story was originally published January 25, 2016 at 5:58 AM with the headline "Tacoma and Olympia gas prices continue sinking."