US gasoline prices could fall below four dollars a gallon for first time since July
The national average price of gasoline in the United States could soon fall below four dollars a gallon for the first time since July, energy analysts say. Price-tracking firm GasBuddy put the national average at 4.06 dollars as of Thursday.
GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, forecast the average would drop below four dollars within the coming week and said diesel would fall below six dollars a gallon by Thanksgiving. Tom Kloza, chief energy adviser at Gulf Oil, said prices would ease within the next 10 days.
Expectations of an end to the war in Iran and increased oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz have driven the decline; Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell below 100 dollars a barrel for the first time since September. The autumn lull in travel and stations switching to the cheaper winter fuel blend are also pushing prices down.
Early Monday data from the American Automobile Association put the national average at about 4.01 dollars a gallon - roughly 14 cents below the 4.15 recorded on Election Day and about 36 cents, or more than 8 per cent, below the 4.37 of a month earlier. Average prices are already below four dollars in 26 states, with North Carolina lowest at 3.26 dollars.
Analysts say the end of the summer travel season and of daylight saving time has curbed demand. Kloza warned, however, that drone and missile attacks in the Russia and Middle East conflicts have knocked out refining capacity of seven million barrels a day, so prices may not fall much further even with a durable ceasefire in Iran and could climb back above four dollars next spring. Diesel prices have fallen only 5 per cent since touching 6.52 dollars on September 22.
