(Salt Lake City, UT) - The national average price of gasoline continues to set high marks, but that is not the whole story. Thirty-one states, including Utah, have lower prices than a week ago. This reflects a downward trend that is typical for this time of year in some parts of the country. The current price in Utah for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.75. This is 1-cent lower than yesterday, 3 cents lower than a week ago and 8 cents lower than last month’s AAA gasoline report. It’s also 16 cents higher than a year ago. The majority of Utah cities, which AAA tracks as a service to consumers, report lower prices than a month ago. The exception is St. George. In that metro area, prices are one cent higher than last month. Vernal’s average price remains unchanged. Provo’s motorist enjoyed the greatest drop in prices at 10 cents, followed by a 7-cent drop for Salt Lake City motorists

The national average price continues to set record numbers. The current national average price is $3.82 for a gallon of regular gasoline. This price is the same as yesterday, 4 cents higher than a week ago, 1-cent lower than a month ago, and 42 cents higher than a year ago.

“While the national average price has been extremely high over the past weeks, there was some movement downward with lower crude prices, bearish economic news, and the end to the high demand of summer driving,” says Rolayne Fairclough, AAA Utah spokesperson. “This downward pressure on prices is seen in the 31 states that report lower prices than a week ago.”

“The normal seasonal trend in lower gasoline prices was skewed by California’s record breaking increase of 50 cents a gallon last week,” continues Fairclough. “The surging prices in California were from concerns about low gasoline supplies and were exacerbated by a power outage last Monday at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance, California. That outage continued through Friday afternoon.”

Global oil prices are moving lower in response to bearish economic news overseas. After briefly falling below $90 per barrel in late September, West Texas Intermediate oil prices settled below the $90 mark at the end of last week. They continued lower yesterday. At the close of formal trading yesterday, West Texas Intermediate oil fell 55 cents to settle at $89.33.