Holiday bringing fuel relief
Lower pump prices expected into Memorial Day
If you’re lucky enough to live in some parts of the United States, you may see gas pump prices fall to around $3.25 a gallon or less in the next week or two. Even West Coast drivers should get some relief from prices that are still above $4 a gallon.
Retail gasoline prices dropped by a penny to a national average of $3.71 per gallon on Friday. That’s 22 cents less than the high of $3.94 per gallon reached in early April. Lower oil prices are the main reason. Weaker demand is also helping to push down prices, as consumers watch their spending in the sluggish economic recovery.
Motorists on the West Coast and in Illinois and New York are paying the most for gas – from $3.83 per gallon to $4.54 per gallon. The lowest prices, from $3.39 to $3.51 per gallon, were in the South and parts of the Midwest.
Prices should continue to decline heading into Memorial Day. The national average is expected to be around $3.60 per gallon or a little bit higher for the long holiday weekend, but a smattering of cities may see prices much lower.
“You could see these prices of $3 to $3.25 populate the country like popcorn thunderstorms do in the spring,” said OPIS chief oil analyst Tom Kloza. “And that may happen in the next week.”
Some drivers already pay 30 to 40 cents less than the national average. That’s because the gasoline they buy is refined from oil produced in the Gulf Coast region, where prices are among the lowest in the country, Kloza said. And state and local gas taxes there are lower than in other areas.
For example, the average pump price Friday was $3.34 per gallon in Greenville, S.C., and $3.43 per gallon in Amarillo, Texas.
Meanwhile, drivers in the Pacific Northwest and California are paying $4.25 to $4.50 a gallon because of a shortage of gasoline supplies related to refineries. Kloza said those issues should be under control and that prices should begin to ease soon.
By July drivers may face a different situation because of the dispute between Western nations and Iran over its nuclear program. The European Union is set to begin a ban on oil imports from Iran. Some analysts think that could drive prices higher.