Average gasoline prices over the past year.

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Gas prices in Valdosta continue to fall.

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Valdosta Sunday was $1.98, down from $2.01 seven days earlier, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

The lowest price in town Sunday was $1.81 at a convenience store on West Hill Avenue, according to the price tracking website gasbuddy.com. The lowest price a week earlier was $1.85 at the same store, according to gasbuddy.

Nationally, the average price of regular gasoline Sunday was $2.21 a gallon, unchanged from the previous week, while the state’s average was $2.05, down five cents from the previous Sunday, the auto club said.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 27 cents to close at $45.95 a barrel Friday in New York. Brent crude, a standard for international oil prices, climbed 24 cents to $47.61 a barrel. In other energy trading in New York, wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $1.42 a gallon, heating oil fell 1 cent to $1.40 a gallon and natural gas rose 3 cents to $2.76 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Drivers in the southeastern quadrant of the U.S. continue to enjoy some of the cheapest prices in the nation, due to the advantageous proximity to major Gulf Coast refineries and some of the lowest state gasoline taxes in the country, AAA said.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.