Las Vegas Valley average gas price falls below $4

For the first time in almost 10 months, the average price for regular unleaded fuel in the Las Vegas Valley dipped below $4 per gallon.

The price dropped to $3.98 per gallon on Saturday and had fallen two more cents as of Monday to sit at $3.96 a gallon, according to AAA.

The last time the average price of gas was under $4 per gallon was Feb. 25, and the last time it was as low as $3.96 was Feb. 24, according to AAA data tracked by Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“It takes a long time for stations to fully pass along prices,” said Patrick De Haan, lead petroleum analyst with GasBuddy. “A lot of this is simply that refineries are simply back online, especially after all the outages we saw in California. Things have really turned around.”

Las Vegas’ gas price is down 22 cents in the last week and 93 cents over the last month. However, it is still 14 cents higher than the $3.82 price recorded on the same date in 2021. The price of gas hit an all-time high in Las Vegas on June 16 of $5.61 per gallon.

The statewide average Monday was still right at $4 per gallon, high enough to rank Nevada as the third most-expensive state. Nevada is behind only California at $4.37 per gallon and Hawaii at $5.11.

The national average stood at $3.14 per gallon on Monday with 11 states boasting prices below $3 a gallon, according to AAA.

A big factor in the cheaper prices at the pump is the cost of crude oil has continued to fall and hovers around $71 a barrel, the lowest price seen over the past year.

The global supply chain also is a major factor in the price per barrel seen in recent months.

“A lot of the reason for oil prices at the lowest levels we’ve seen for quite some time has to do with not only the fact that prices have relaxed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, because Russia has continued to export oil,” De Haan said. “But more significantly the active driver of the world’s largest oil importer, China, is importing far less because it continues to grapple with COVID.”

Even if the restrictions are lifted in China and driver activity increases there, that is not a guarantee that the price of oil will increase along with it.

“Even if they do reopen, there could be a surge in cases there and that limits consumption,” De Haan said.

Feb. 25 seems to be a key day relating to Las Vegas Valley gas prices.

Not only was this past Feb. 25 the last time prices in Las Vegas were below $4 a gallon, but Feb. 25, 2021, was the last time local prices were under $3, AAA data revealed.

De Haan is skeptical that gas prices will again fall under $3 per gallon in Clark County, as he said that price related to COVID-19 restrictions that resulted in reduced demand.

“The last time we were below $3 was when COVID was really a concern,” De Haan said. “We haven’t really gotten below $3 a gallon since before COVID, at least on a healthy level. COVID is kind of the caveat of Mark McGuire took steroids, so it doesn’t really count. COVID doesn’t really count in terms of why prices were low, it was an artificial low, it wasn’t a norm. The last time before that when we saw $3 prices was briefly in late 2018 through 2019.”

With the situations in Ukraine and China very active, any major developments impacting Russia’s exporting of oil or China reopening with no surge, could see gas prices begin to rise.

“So while it’s not completely impossible, I just don’t think it’s plausible,” De Haan said. “I think prices could fall between 25-75 cents more, but I don’t see it falling below $3 per gallon anywhere on the West Coast.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.