Gas prices keep falling in Fresno and Valley. Here are the cheapest places to fill up
California has the second highest gasoline prices in the country behind only Hawaii. But the average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in the Golden State is falling about six times faster than the national average.
And the price drop is even more dramatic in Fresno and the central San Joaquin Valley – more than 50 cents per gallon in the past two months, compared to just over 8 cents per gallon on average nationwide, according to fuel price data from AAA Gas Prices.
Gas prices hit a 2019 peak of $4.12 per gallon for regular unleaded in Fresno during the week of Oct. 21. On Friday, the average retail pump price was down to $3.59 per gallon.
Depending on where you live, however, a little hunting can pay off big in terms of savings. In Fresno, for example, the cheapest price for gas on Friday afternoon was $3.17 per gallon at a Sinclair station at First Street and Bullard Avenue in northeast Fresno, according to GasBuddy.com, a website and app that aggregates real-time prices reported by users. Costco stations in north Fresno and Clovis, as well as a Sinclair station at Palm and Bullard avenues in northwest Fresno, were selling regular unleaded at $3.19 per gallon.
In the Kings County cities of Hanford and Lemoore, drivers could find gas priced below $3 per gallon at several locations, according to GasBuddy: $2.99 at a Sinclair station at 10th Avenue and Lacey Boulevard in Hanford; $2.69 at a Sinclair station at Armstrong and D streets in Lemoore; and $2.59 at two stations, a Fastrip convenience store at 18th Avenue and Cinnamon Drive in Lemoore and at Yokut Gas near the Tachi Palace casino south of Lemoore.
Several locations in Tulare also had gas for less than $3 per gallon, including $2.99 at an Amstar station at Bardsley Avenue and E Street; $2.99 at a Kwik Serv station at Bardsley Avenue and Spruce Street; and $2.97 at a Fastrip store at Tulare Avenue and Spruce Street.
Visalia’s cheapest gas price was $3.10 for regular unleaded at the Express Mini Mart on Mineral King Avenue east of Lovers Lane. In Madera, GasBuddy users reported the lowest price was $3.07 at Central Gas, at Gateway Drive and Madera Avenue.
Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said California’s more dramatic decline in gasoline prices is because the state and its refineries have now recovered fully from down time for maintenance this fall. “Over the past couple of months, the situation has been slowly returning to normal, which is why prices in California have been falling much more considerably than the national average,” DeHaan said Friday.
DeHaan said he expects that the price drops “will probably peter out in the next week or two … and that the big declines are probably behind us.”
News of a possible trade deal between China and the U.S. have the potential to drive prices higher, DeHaan added. “There’s not a lot of details, but it could bolster the price of oil,” he said. “If it brings more economic activity to the two countries, that is usually accompanied by an increase in oil demand.”
