(September 20, 2016) Today’s national average price for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.21 per gallon, which is 3 cents more than last week and 8 cents more expensive than last month.  Today’s price represents a year over year discount of 9 cents from 2015.

Regional pump prices fluctuated dramatically this week due to pipeline repairs and localized supply disruptions.  In early September, a leak on Line 1 of the Colonial Pipeline occurred in Alabama and pressured prices in Southeast states sharply higher, including week-over-week increases of 7 cents or more in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The Line 1 of the pipeline runs from Houston, Texas to Greensboro, North Carolina and can carry 1.2 million barrels of gasoline per day. As a result of the leak and downtime for the repair, Colonial Pipeline announced over the weekend that it would construct a temporary pipeline to bypass the section of the line that is damaged. According to Colonial, the bypass would allow the pipeline to resume gasoline deliveries to impacted areas by the end of the week.

Until the pipeline bypass is completed, distribution issues will continue to put additional upward pressure on prices in the Southeast and possibly the Mid-Atlantic region. States that may continue to see tighter supply and higher gas prices include Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The Colonial Pipeline has said it anticipates reopening the line later this week with the bypass in use, but it remains unclear how quickly they will be able to repair Line 1.

Quick stats

    Average gas prices are below $2 per gallon in six states today including: Mississippi ($1.96), Texas (1.96), Missouri ($1.97), New Jersey ($1.98), Arkansas ($1.99) and Louisiana ($1.99).

    The biggest weekly price increases are reflected in Georgia (+21 cents), South Carolina (+13 cents), Tennessee (+13 cents), North Carolina (+11 Cents), Ohio (+11 Cents), Indiana (+10 cents), Alabama (+7 cents), Delaware (+7 cents), Kentucky (+7 cents) and Hawaii (+6 cents).