(LEX 18) — A new year could mean more relief at the gas station, according to the annual fuel outlook released by GasBuddy this week.
The company's 2025 Fuel Price Outlook projects a national average of $3.22, down from the 2024 average of $3.33.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said the company's outlook is based on a laundry list of factors, from supply and demand changes to national leadership changes.
"Anything that really can touch global supply and demand, [from] economies in China, economies globally, oil producing countries, the US economy, the Federal Reserve, economic and fiscal stimulus, if any, there's just a wide range of what can impact gas prices, and it's a very complex market with all of those levers potentially moving at the same time," De Haan said.
GasBuddy's projections in recent years have been just cents away from the actual averages, with 2024's estimate being just 5 cents higher than the final average.
The outlook also projects annual household spending on gasoline. In 2025, GasBuddy estimates the average household will spend $2,252 on gasoline, down from the 2022 peak of $2,715.
"All in all, I think most of the reason for the improvement in prices has more to do with the continued improvements in the economy, that is a slow but steady recovery, after the imbalances brought on by COVID and Russia's invasion of Ukraine," De Haan said. "Some of it may also be on the potential for new administration policies that are friendly to the oil sector, but all of this simply still has to do at the end of the day with supply and demand and economics changing, not who's in the White House."
The outlook also predicts falling diesel prices, which could have a larger impact on the U.S. supply chain in the new year.
