“It’s definitely a very volatile crude oil market that we’ve seen over the last week, with lots of ups and downs.”
Adrienne Woodland is the spokesperson for AAA the Auto Club Group. She says Michigan drivers saw a slight decline in gas prices despite an increase in crude oil prices.
“Even with the up and down dips, crude oil is some of the highest we’ve seen in a decade, and they’re still trading above a hundred dollars a barrel. So, I think even with the volatility, we’re not going to see, unless something really unusual happens in market, motorists may not see this big decrease in prices. One of the things we say we say, prices rise like a rocket, fall like a feather. Even with the decreases, they’re going to be slower than the increases we saw.”
Woodland says there’s not just “one” thing that’s causing prices to fluctuate.
“Globally they are so many different things playing in crude oil prices globally. One of the main things we saw to push oil prices up was the invasion of Ukraine and one of the things right now, this morning that are causing crude oil prices to decline today are the shutdowns in China due to Covid. So there’s literally this back and forth on a myriad of factors that are pulling prices up and pulling prices back down.”
Michigan drivers are now paying an average of $4.13 per gallon for regular unleaded, having dropped an additional penny at the start of the day. Motorists are paying on average $62 for a full 15-gallon tank of gasoline; an increase of about $11 from when prices were their highest last November.
Woodland says motorists should continue to look for ways to save money on gas. Including shopping around for the best gas prices and limiting driving time.
