Average retail gasoline prices in Kansas have fallen 3.9 cents per gallon in the past week, stunning analysts who expected prices to be higher with the arrival of the summer driving season.
 Kansasgasprices.com reported this week the cost averaged $3.39 per gallon Monday. This compares with the national average that has fallen 3.6 cents per gallon in the last week to $3.65.
The state low came in Salina where it was $3.19 in town and $3.22 just off Interstate 70. Highs came in Coffeyville and Liberal at $3.59, Hays at $3.56 and Garden City at $3.55.
Prices across Great Bend were slightly higher than the average as of Thursday at $3.43-3.46, where they have hovered for a while. The price was $3.39 in Lyons.
Including the change in gas prices in Kansas during the past week, prices yesterday were 33.1 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and are 18.6 cents per gallon lower than a month ago. The national average has decreased 15.7 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 13.4 cents per gallon lower than this day one year ago.
“Summer driving season has officially begun with the national average falling far lower than we expected it earlier this year,” said GasBuddy.com senior petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan. “The national average has dropped to a surprising $3.65/gal mark as of today.
Had someone asked him back in January if the national average would have been that low on Memorial Day, “I would likely have chuckled, but it goes to show anything is possible,” DeHaan said. GasBuddy forecast back in January that the national average would peak between $3.75-$4.15/gal.
The national average peaked at $3.92/gal on April 5, far sooner than many analysts, including DeHaan, expected it to occur.
GasBuddy operates KansasGasPrices.com and over 250 similar web sites that track gasoline prices at over 140,000 gasoline stations in the United States and Canada.