State gas average drops 9 cents

Missouri's average gas price dropped 8.8 cents Dec. 3-9 to $3.05 per gallon yesterday.

The average, which was unchanged this morning, ranks Missouri No. 2 in the country on GasBuddy.com's list of the lowest gas averages by state. At $3.04 per gallon, Oklahoma had the lowest average, while Hawaii had the highest average at $4.98 per gallon.

Missouri's $3.05 per gallon average is 5.8 cents lower than a month ago but 1.1 cents higher than a year ago. The national average, which fell 4.8 cents during the past week to $3.34 per gallon yesterday, dropped 12.2 cents during the past month but increased 5.5 cents from the same day a year ago, according to a GasBuddy.com news release.

In Missouri, the lowest gas price available this morning was $2.79 per gallon at a filling station in Black Jack, near St. Louis. The highest price, $3.59 per gallon, could be found at a station in Cape Girardeau, according to MissouriGasPrices.com.

The lowest Springfield price was $3.00 per gallon, available at the Sam's Club at 745 W. El Camino Alto Drive.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading at $85.98 per barrel as of 8:54 a.m., compared to $89.91 per barrel a week ago. Light sweet crude oil futures for January were trading at $86.14 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.