Will gas prices drop below $3 per gallon in Arizona?

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — If you’re heading out on a fall road trip, you can expect gas prices to be much lower than this time last year!

Arizona’s average currently sits at $3.37 per gallon, according to AAA Arizona. Last year at this time, our average was $4.64. While gas prices have dropped significantly, Arizona hasn’t seen a drop as big as other states.

“There have been some refinery issues in California that are preventing a more meaningful drop from happening in Arizona. That’s important because California is the source of much of the gasoline that shows up in Arizona,” Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, said.

De Haan said the good news is prices haven’t gone up in recent weeks, but “they haven’t gone down very much over the last couple of weeks.”

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In Arizona, prices are down about 10 cents in the last month. While our prices are in the mid-$3 range, at least 10 states are under $3 a gallon, according to AAA.

“Things are looking fairly good,” De Haan said. “Oil prices are at some of their lowest levels in multiple years. Diesel is at its lowest level since late 2021, and gasoline is poised to continue declining as demand seasonally continues to decline.”

So could Arizona drop below $3 a gallon at some point this year?

“That’s certainly a possibility as long as refineries in California can get back online and boost supplies; that’s been the problem as they’re carrying out maintenance supplies of gasoline like Arizona’s special clean-burning gasoline blend,” De Haan said.

He said that by “maybe late October or November,” Arizona could see gas prices below that $3 a gallon mark. He stressed the election is not the reason why gas prices have dropped and will likely continue to decline.

“I think a lot of Americans have been led to believe by politicians, that politicians are the end all be all, but the end all be all really for gas prices is global economics, and right now, because the global economy is slowing down, gas prices are slowing down,” De Haan added.

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