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Gasoline prices in Kentucky have continued a nearly steady drop since mid-August, when it reached an average of $3.61 per gallon. However, the fighting in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas makes it unclear how long that trend will continue.

According to GasBuddy.com, a crowd-sourced website and mobile app that tracks fuel prices across the U.S. and Canada, as of Monday afternoon the average price for self-serve regular in Kentucky was $3.20 per gallon.  That is 9 cents below last Monday, 33 cents less than a month ago, and a 28 cent drop from this time last year.

As a comparison, the nationwide average stood at $3.56 Monday afternoon, which was ten cents below last week, 30 cents less than a month ago, and 31 cents cheaper than October of last year.  In addition, the national average price of diesel has fallen 5.8 cents in the last week and stands at $4.48 per gallon, 55.2 cents lower than one year ago.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy said, “The downward momentum has indeed gained steam, with the national average declining over the last week with again virtually every village, town, city, region, and state seeing gasoline prices fall—with the added bonus that diesel prices have also declined.”

While recognizing that the price of oil jumped 5% last week, De Haan stated, “I remain steadfast that additional declines are coming to gasoline prices the way the situation stands now, but remain cautious that this depends on actions that are not foreseeable, mainly the conflict in the Middle East.  For now, the national average is likely to soon fall to its lowest level in six months.  Some areas of the Great Lakes could see a price cycle in the next few weeks, which is typical after long declines, as stations often pass along the drops there faster than anywhere else.”

He added, “I believe the national average still has some 15-35 cents of declining to do the way things stand now.”