Biden highlights decline in US petrol prices, average driver saves about $25 a month

US petrol prices have fallen from historic highs earlier in the summer, a retreat highlighted by a politically beset White House as a sign of moderating inflation.

President Joe Biden, who has seen his approval rating tumble amid the worst pricing pressures in decades, took to Twitter to point out that prices at the pump have fallen for more than a month, saving the average driver about $25 a month.

"I know those extra dollars and cents mean something. It's breathing room," Biden tweeted Monday night.

"And we're not done working to get prices even lower."

Since hitting an all-time high of $5.016 a gallon on June 14, prices have fallen the last 35 days amid rising worries over economic growth and an easing in the physical crude oil market.

Petrol prices are now at a national average of $4.495 per gallon, down 10 percent from a month ago but up 42 percent from the year-ago level, according to the American Automobile Association.

"The price went down a little bit," said Rigobert Fokoua, 50, an independent contractor. "I'm feeling okay because before I was putting (in) like $80 a day, but today I can put in $60, it's a little bit better."

Fokoua was filling up at a Rockville, Maryland gas station, where a gallon of regular went for $4.39 Tuesday, down from more than $5 a few weeks ago.

"I noticed that in the last couple of weeks, it (the gas price) actually went down," said Brendan Anderson, 24, who works in training and development in the entertainment industry.

"I figured the demand has decreased slightly just because less consumers are purchasing gas going out."

The biggest factor in the pullback has been the drop in crude oil prices due to worries that a slowing economy or recession will dent energy demand.

Crude prices rose to around $130 a barrel soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted fears of the loss of a major supply source at a time of rising demands.

Analysts say those fears were generally not realized and that most Russian crude oil has continued to flow to buyers in markets such as India and China.

Compared with March, US crude oil production has also risen about 400,000 barrels a day, according to US data.

The added US production, coupled with more Saudi oil added in the recent period, means the tightness of the crude market "has eased," said Again Capital's John Kilduff, who also cited as a factor unusually tepid gasoline consumption shown in the most recent weekly US energy report.

Some of the drop in petrol use likely is a response to price. But it also reflects shifting labor practices after the pandemic.