Gas prices drop as virus blamed

Trend locally seeing quick drop of nearly 20 cents in some places.

Gas prices on Monday fell in the region of nearly 20 cents at some stations, and it appears to be the work of the new coronavirus, which has slammed oil prices globally.

Several gas stations across the Dayton area were selling gas for under $2 a gallon for regular unleaded, the first time since January 2019. The Springboro Thorton’s was selling gas for $1.93 a gallon.

“Love seeing the low gas prices, even if the downturn is for unfortunate reasons. This could help take some sting out of the ramp-up to more expensive summer grades of gasoline,” said Tim Sumpter, a Huber Heights resident.

The average price for gas in the Dayton area is $2.18, down from $2.38 one week ago, according to the GasBuddy.com site. Prices are down 20 cents from the average this time last year.

The trend is more than local.

Falling gas prices have been reported in Fresno, Calif., Detroit, and central Illinois.

Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for the website GasBuddy, is pointing to the coronavirus, which has markedly depressed oil prices.

Last week saw a big selloff on major stock markets, and oil prices followed along, DeHaan said Monday.

“If this does spread, if this does really hit the U.S., it’s going to mean demand destruction,” he said in a phone interview with the Dayton Daily News. “People will be staying home from work, school, they won’t be traveling. The trickle down would be that it would reduce oil demand noticeably in the world’s largest oil consumer.”

“And for that reason, you’re seeing prices drop below $2 a gallon,” he added.

Twenty-six states on Monday had at least one gas station selling prices below $2 a gallon, he noted.

Demand for fuel has fallen some 20 percent in China, as flights have been canceled, factories have been closed and people are staying home in quarantined communities.

Oil prices fell below $50 a barrel recently, while CNN reported that in the U.S. oil was trading at $44.76, a 16.2 percent decline compared to the week before. Even natural gas prices are affected.

“As always, local prices can have pockets of lower and higher prices,” Sumpter added.

So what’s ahead? No one has a crystal ball, but DeHaan expects oil prices generally to follow stock prices. As stocks rise, so should oil prices.

“I would expect oil prices to track very much with the Dow ( Jones Industrial Average),” he said. “Their fate is tied together with the coronavirus. If you see the Dow shoot up, oil prices are going along with it.”

Healthy stock levels and cheaper crude prices have alleviated pump price pains, said Jenifer Moore, AAA spokeswoman.

“However, maintenance season and the upcoming switchover to summer blend could break the downward trend in coming weeks, but we are also watching the impact of the coronavirus and what that could do to demand,” Moore said.