PORTLAND, Maine — The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Maine stopped rising in the past week, after a steady decline of the national average price heading into the Independence Day weekend.
The gas price tracking website GasBuddy.com reported the state’s average at $2.79 Sunday, and AAA reported the price at $2.80 Monday, on par with one week ago. The price was 95 cents lower than one year ago and 8 cents higher than one month ago.
The lowest price in the state was reported Monday in Bangor, at $2.57 per gallon, at Sam’s Club. The highest prices broke the $3.00 mark, with a price of $3.03 at a gas station in Rangeley and $3.01 at stations in Gray and Island Falls.
Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, said Maine was one of 39 states to see a decline in the past week, which he said was “a nice trend as we head towards July 4.”
DeHaan said debt relief talks in Greece could have some effect on gas prices and stock prices in the weeks ahead, but he projects gas prices will continue to drop again by the upcoming Sunday, for a third week of declines.
Trillby Lundberg, publisher of Lundberg survey of gas prices, told Reuters she thinks gas prices will continue to drop in the coming weeks.
“In the absence of any significant rise in crude oil prices, which have been quite stable over more than two months, the flush supply and high refining capacity utilization in the U.S. has offset the impact of our robustly growing gasoline demand,” she said.
Lundberg’s survey found drivers paid an average of $2.85 per gallon, 86 cents below the average price paid at this time last year.