Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Montana gasoline prices keep rising but remain lower than the national average. Patrick De Haan is the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy and he provided the current numbers.     

“Average gasoline prices in Montana have risen 6.2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.15 per gallon today,” De Haan said. “Prices in Montana are 35.3 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and stand 8.6 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.”   

As of Monday afternoon, almost all the stations in Missoula had their prices set to at least $3.18 per gallon. 

According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Montana was priced at $2.89 per gallon yesterday while the most expensive was $3.39 per gallon.    

Montana is currently 28th in the U.S. when it comes to the average price of gas.   

“The national average price of gasoline has fallen 1.9 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.24 per gallon today,” De Haan said. “The national average is up 13.3 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands 9.2 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 2.6 cents in the last week and stands at $4.06 per gallon.”    

Read More: We Warned You... Montana Gas Prices Keep Climbing

According to De Haan, motorists have finally seen a bit of a break in the recent rise in the national average, with more states seeing drops than increases in the last week.  

“While the pause has certainly been nice, this is more like a rain delay than it is a 7th-inning stretch," said De Haan. "It's likely only a matter of time before we see the rise re-engage and prices start to head higher, but we'll take any break that we can. Oil prices have shown some signs of struggling last week after coming within arms reach of $80 per barrel before falling closer to $76, but all eyes are on refiners as utilization remained seasonally weak, around 80% of capacity, meaning there's less gasoline and diesel being produced.” 

De Haan said that's why it's just a matter of time before prices collide with rising demand and start to accelerate again. 

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli

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