Mo. tallies fourth-lowest gas price nationwide

Show-Me State gas prices fell an average of 6 cents during the past week to $3.40 per gallon yesterday.

At $3.41 per gallon this morning, Missouri held the fourth spot on GasBuddy.com's list of the lowest gas averages in the nation. New Mexico topped the list with an average of $3.38 per gallon, while a $4.37 per gallon average in Hawaii was at the bottom.

Comparatively, the national average decreased by 1.4 cents to $3.64 per gallon on May 4, according to a news release from gas price tracker GasBuddy.

With the latest price decreases, Missouri's average sits 3.3 cents lower than a month ago and unchanged from a year ago. The U.S. average increased 9.2 cents month-to-month and 13.4 cents year-to-year.

"Finally, the news motorists have been waiting for - it appears that, at least for now, the national average has peaked," GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan said in the release. "By Memorial Day, if there aren't major refinery kinks that develop, we could see the national average dropping into the $3.50s, or perhaps even lower."

In Missouri, the lowest price for gas in the state this morning was available at $3.09 per gallon at a filling station in Kennett, located in the Bootheel. A Poplar Bluff station was home to the highest gas price in the state, $3.99 per gallon, according to GasBuddy's MissouriGasPrices.com.

Springfieldians could purchase gas at a low price point of $3.24 per gallon this morning at Conoco, 1402 E. Republic Road. Prices elsewhere in the city ranged from $3.26 per gallon to $3.35 per gallon.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading at $99.76 per barrel as of 11:22 a.m. Light sweet crude oil futures for June were trading at $99.62 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.