Chicago gas prices have taken a rare 11-day trip below the national average — their longest in 15 years.
As of Monday, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded cost just $1.67, 7 cents less than the national average of $1.74.
It’s only the third time since 2007 that Chicago motorists have paid less than the typical U.S. driver to fill up. And the 11 days that the Chicago area has been below the national average is the longest since GasBuddy.com started compiling data in 2001, according to analyst Patrick DeHaan.
Higher land costs, taxes, and regulations mean that gas typically costs significantly more in the Chicago area and in and around other major cities than in the rest of the U.S. While the premium paid in the Chicago area is typically around 20 to 30 cents a gallon, area residents paid as much as 80 cents a gallon more than the national average as recently as August.
But DeHaan said cheap Canadian oil has helped boost gasoline inventories in the Midwest to “their highest level in decades,” driving down the price of gas at the pump.
The imminent switch to production of summer mix gas means refiners may in the next couple of weeks be forced to offer even cheaper prices to shift reserves of winter blend gas, DeHaan added. “We could see some even lower gas prices,” he said.
With prices already as low as $1.35 a gallon at some suburban stations, however, any uptick in the commodities market would likely be very quickly passed on to motorists, DeHaan said.
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