Gasoline prices go down

U.S. gas retail prices dropped more than 15 cents, in the past two weeks. The price went down from a record average $3.025 to $2.87 per gallon of self-serve regular. This was reported by a national survey on Sunday.

Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the ‘Lundberg Survey,’ carries a survey that tallies prices every two to three weeks at about 5,000 gas stations in all 50 states. “It's the largest drop since last September, when the country was coming off gasoline shortages caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," said Lundberg.

When refineries were trying to bounce back after being knocked out by Hurricane Katrina, gas prices had fallen 20-cents on September 23, 2005.

This time the drop in gasoline prices is being accredited to the sufficient gasoline supply and the moderate softening that crude oil prices have seen in recent days. “Historically high prices had already slowed or halted the growth in demand for gasoline” said Lundberg.

It is expected that as September approaches the demand will further go down as summer vacations will get over. Consumption of fuel by motorists reaches its peak between Memorial Day in May and Labor Day in September, after which it drops.

Lundberg predicted further price drops “if there is no new threat to oil supply, let alone any hurricane damage to refineries.” She said “Oil companies have no interest in helping each other and instead want to increase their sales at the expense of the competition.
They all have no mercy.”

The lowest price was $2.60 a gallon in Des Moines, Iowa, and the highest was in Honolulu at $3.32. Drivers in the city of Atlanta paid $2.73, while the ones in Boston and Portland paid $2.91 per gallon of gasoline. The price in Boise, Idaho was $2.99 and that in Dallas was $2.72.