Gas Prices Now Dropping Below $4 a Gallon in Some Parts of US: Analyst
The pains at the pump seem to be decreasing again… For now.
After a season of painfully high gas prices, filling up is showing signs of becoming cheaper again, according to an analyst has observed gas prices falling below $4 a gallon at thousands of gas stations.
Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy predicted Wednesday on Twitter that the United States would see "thousands of [gas] stations falling back under $4 per gallon" within days. True to his projection, De Haan revealed Friday morning that GasBuddy has since received nearly 6,000 individual reports of prices below $4 a gallon. Whether any entire states are back below the $4 mark is uncertain, but De Haan suggested the likely first beneficiaries will be in the southeast.
As of Tuesday, GasBuddy reported that gas prices had fallen for a third straight week, after momentarily eclipsing $5 per gallon in early June. Tuesday reportedly marked a week-over-week price drop of over $0.10, bringing the national average to $4.78 a gallon, down over $0.07 from this time last month. This apparently occurred in spite of a 2.1-percent increase in demand, as indicated by GasBuddy's payment system.
"While we may see prices decline into this week, the drop could fade soon if oil prices reverse, especially with strong demand over the holiday," said De Haan. "For the time being, Americans are spending nearly $100 million per day less on gasoline than when prices peaked a few weeks ago, and that's well-needed relief at a time when gas prices remain near records."
Prices appear to be on track for yet another week of decline, as AAA states that gas prices stand at $4.72 today. That'd suggest a daily fall of $0.02 so far this week. Year-over-year, however, prices remain up $1.66. Long-term, prices could be in for further instability, as U.S. gas inventories remain seven percent below where they were this time last year, and eight percent below the five-year average. They have however increased over two of the last three weeks according to De Haan.
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