Wednesday, January 21, 2015YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Two organizations predict the national average price of gasoline will drop below $2 per gallon, perhaps as soon as this week.
Both GasBuddy.com and AAA predict the price drop, putting the average per-gallon price at a level motorists haven’t seen since spring 2009.
“The current trend has the national average today at $2.05, which maintains the consistent rate of decline we’ve monitored for the past several months,” says Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.
AAA reports the average price of a gallon of self-serve gasoline in Youngstown is $1.955, and is $1.986 in Niles.
“When you couple that with the fuel fundamentals reported by the Energy Information Administration, specifically the inventory build in recent weeks, it’s a certainty that we’ll see the national average price of gas move below $2 … probably within the next 48 to 72 hours,” he continued. “We could see it fall to $1.95 or even lower in the weeks ahead.”
The average price at the pump has dropped for a record 117 days, according to AAA, which slightly more conservatively predicts as falling below $2 per gallon by the end of the month.
Crude oil prices have posted multiyear lows because of global supply greatly outpacing demand, and the cost of crude account for more than half the price of gasoline. AAA expects the national average to remain below $3 per gallon this year, barring any major fluctuations in global crude prices.
The current average price of gasoline is now $1.24 lower than the average a year ago. Already 26 states report average gas prices below $2 per gallon, and more than half the service stations in the United States are already below $2 per gallon, adds Gregg Laskoski, another senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy. “Right now there are more stations reporting prices under $2 (57.1%) than there are reporting prices above $2.25 (20.5%)," he says in a prepared statement.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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