While winter blend gasoline begins to reach the Northeast wholesale market this week, fuel distributors have been clearing out supplies of summer blend gasoline over the past few weeks. As more domestic refining capacity has converted to producing winter fuel, summer blend has traded at a premium as its supply has dwindled. The effect has been a notable rise in gas prices across the Northeast, with prices in September reaching levels not seen through most of the summer.
Gasoline prices have also faced pressure from higher oil prices caused by rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, and new reports that Western nations could increase sanctions on Russian energy exports after Russian drones entered Polish airspace last week.
The uptick in gas prices has been tempered by weekly supply and demand data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) that showed a 1.5-million-barrel jump in inventories, snapping a seven-week stretch of declines. Demand fell more than 600,000 barrels a day from the prior week to 8.5 million barrels a day, which isn’t all that unusual for a week in September, but well below the 9.2 million barrels a day produced by domestic refiners.
“The switch to winter blend fuel, declining seasonal demand and growing inventories could effectively pump the brakes on recent price increases at the pump,” said Mark Schieldrop, senior spokesperson for AAA Northeast.
AAA Northeast’s Sept. 15 survey of fuel prices found the current national average down 2 cents from last week ($3.19), averaging $3.17 per gallon. Today’s national average price is 2 cents higher than month ago ($3.15) and 3 cents lower than this day last year ($3.20).
| Region | Current Price* | One Week Ago | One Month Ago | One Year Ago |
| Massachusetts | $3.12 | $3.12 | $3.05 | $3.20 |
| Rhode Island | $3.15 | $3.15 | $3.03 | $3.08 |
| Connecticut | $3.21 | $3.20 | $3.11 | $3.20 |
| New York | $3.25 | $3.26 | $3.16 | $3.36 |
| New Jersey | $3.14 | $3.17 | $3.03 | $3.09 |
*Prices as of Sept. 15, 2025
The AAA Gas Prices website is your resource for up-to-date fuel price information. Search for average gas prices on national, state and metro levels by regular, plus, premium and diesel.
