By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
The nation’s average price of gasoline has fallen 6.6 cents over the last week and stands at $4.45 per gallon, according to GasBuddy data from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations nationwide.
The national average is up 41.0 cents from a month ago and is $1.32 per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel fell 4.0 cents in the last week and stands at $5.571 per gallon.
Kentucky’s average regular gas price is a bit lower at $4.17 as of midday on Wednesday, but like the national average, is still more than $1.50 per gallon higher than at the beginning of March.
“Average gasoline prices declined in 40 states over the last week as falling oil prices helped offset earlier price cycling in many markets, bringing relief to motorists after several states had already seen sharp increases,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Much of the decline came after renewed optimism surrounding a potential U.S.-Iran agreement pushed oil prices lower, easing geopolitical pressure on energy markets. In many states, that drop created breathing room after recent price cycles and allowed pump prices to fall again.”
“While oil continued drifting lower over the weekend on hopes of a deal, new CENTCOM reports involving U.S. defensive strikes highlight how quickly the outlook could change,” said De Haan. “For now, motorists may continue to see some relief, but it remains too early to know how long the decline will last.”
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Weekly Petroleum Status Report for the week ending May 15, 2026, showed U.S. oil inventories fell by 7.9 million barrels and are about two percent below the seasonal average for this time of year, while the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell 9.9 million barrels to 374.2 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels and are about 5% below the five-year seasonal average, while distillate inventories rose by 0.4 million barrels and are about nine percent below the five-year seasonal average. Refinery utilization fell 0.1 percentage points to 91.6 percent, while implied gasoline demand, the EIA’s proxy for retail demand, rose 14,000 bpd to 8.767 million barrels per day.
You can check gas and diesel prices near you, by going to KentuckyGasPrices.com.