12/20/21 - Gas Prices Continue to Slowly Drop

Many stations in West Michigan are selling gas below $3 a gallon.

DEARBORN, Mich., (December 20, 2021) - Gas prices in Michigan are down 5 cents compared to last week. Michigan drivers are now paying an average of $3.14 per gallon for regular unleaded. This price is 23 cents less than this time last month but still $1 more than this time last year.

Motorists are paying an average of $47 for a full 15-gallon tank of gasoline; an increase of about $8 from when prices were their highest last January.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total domestic gasoline stocks decreased by 700,000 bbl to 218.6 million bbl last week. On the other hand, gasoline demand increased from 8.96 million b/d to 9.47 million b/d.  Typically, growing demand and tight supply would support rising pump prices, but fluctuations in the price of crude oil have helped to put downward pressure on prices.

At the close of Friday’s formal trading session, WTI decreased by $1.52 to settle at $70.86. Crude prices increased on Thursday after the EIA reported that total domestic crude stocks decreased by 4.6 million bbl to 428.3 million bbl. The current stock level is 14.4 percent lower than the level in mid-December 2020. But the increase was short lived as worries over the rising number of COVID-19 cases globally caused buyers to retreat, dropping crude prices 81 cents for the week.

With holiday travel forecasted to increase 34% compared to last year, the majority of travelers will be hitting the roadways. More than 3 million Michigan residents are planning to drive to their destination, while seeing the highest December gas prices in over 7 years.

“Michigan gas prices have steadily declined for the past six weeks,” said Adrienne Woodland, spokesperson, AAA-The Auto Club Group. "Despite these decreases, Michigan drivers will still see the highest Year-End Holiday gas prices since 2013."

Compared to last week, Metro Detroit’s average daily gas price decreased. Metro Detroit’s current average is $3.26 per gallon.  This price is 3 cents less than last week’s average but still $1.14 more than this same time last year.

Click here to view AAA's state and metro gas averages

• Most expensive gas price averages: Marquette ($3.37), Traverse City ($3.32), Ann Arbor ($3.26)
• Least expensive gas price averages: Grand Rapids ($2.96), Benton Harbor ($2.98), Lansing ($3.00)

Find Local Gas Prices

• Daily national, state, and metro gas price averages can be found at Gasprices.aaa.com