Show-Me State gas average rises

The average price of gas in Missouri rose 5.9 cents during the past week, knocking the Show-Me State off the top of GasBuddy.com’s list of the lowest averages in the nation.

This morning, Missouri held the sixth spot on the list, falling from No. 1 during GasBuddy’s most recent gas reports the past two weeks. South Carolina was home to the last expensive gas in the U.S. this morning, with an average of $2.77 per gallon. Hawaii bottomed out the list with an average of $4.05 per gallon.

Missouri’s $2.82 per gallon average yesterday was 32.2 cents lower than a month ago and 16.8 cents lower than a year ago. The national average, which fell 3.7 cents during the past week to $3.05 per gallon, decreased 28.4 cents during the past month and 25.9 cents during the past year, according to a news release.

"It's been a long time since we've seen this many stations nationally under $3 per gallon gallon - nearly four years,” GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan said in the release, noting that number is approaching 70,000. “The best part is that Americans are saving a staggering amount of money - almost $110 million a day - versus what was being spent at the pump a year ago.”

This morning in Missouri, the lowest price of gas available was $2.53 per gallon at a Sam’s Club store in Maplewood. At $3.45 per gallon, a station in Savannah was selling the most expensive gas, according to MissouriGasPrices.com.

In Springfield, both Sam’s Club stores were selling gas at $2.79 per gallon. Prices elsewhere in the city ranged from $2.82 to $2.98 per gallon.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading at $81.01 per barrel as of 9:07 a.m. Light sweet crude oil futures for December were trading at $79.53 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.