Gas prices in U.S. fall below $4 per gallon average for first time since March

The average price of gas in the United States dropped under $4 per gallon on Thursday for the first time since March, according to AAA. This will offer some breathing space for drivers who are still contending with increasing inflation.

Seema Shah, the chief global strategist at Principal Global Investors, said that despite the positive news from the labor board, price growth does remain high. “Households will unfortunately continue to feel the severe strain of elevated price pressures on their budgets,” Shah said.

Gas prices hit a record high in June at $5.02 per gallon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, according to AAA data. The AAA had anticipated that the national average could drop to below $4 this month as fears of major restrictions on supply have eased.

They noted that drivers have been visiting the pumps on a less frequent basis, as residents are “their driving habits to cope with higher pump prices.”

“Oil is the primary ingredient in gasoline, so less expensive oil is helpful in taming pump prices,” AAA spokesman Andrew Gross stated on Monday. “Couple that with fewer drivers fueling up, and you have a recipe for gas prices to keep easing.”

The White House has been working on measures to decrease oil prices after the U.S. and several other countries sanctioned Russian oil, proposing a bill to release more than 180 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

“President Biden promised he would address Putin’s price hike at … the pump, and he has. He is releasing 1 billion barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press conference this week.

“He is rallying — rallying international partners to release an unprecedented amount of oil. And under President Biden’s leadership, U.S. oil production is up and on track to reach a record high,” Jean-Pierre went on to say.