Posted on 08/27/2014 10:08:02 AM PDT by thackney
Drivers hitting the roads during the upcoming holiday weekend will likely encounter good news: the cheapest Labor Day weekend gasoline prices since 2010.
The forecast comes amid falling domestic and global crude prices, analysts at GasBuddy said. The benchmark price for U.S. crude is down nearly $9 per barrel since the Memorial Day weekend, and the the international price is down $7 in the same period.
A downward trend in gasoline prices began in July and will likely continue through autumn, the gasoline price monitors said.
Interestingly, the downward trend in crude comes despite several global conflicts in and around regions that are major global energy producers. Those conflicts including tension between Ukraine and Russia, fighting between Israel and Hamas and the growing influence of Islamic militants in Syria and Iraq.
Tom Kloza, GasBuddy’s chief oil analyst, predicted that even more significant gasoline price declines could come in late September, when much of the country is expected to experience regular gasoline prices below $3.25. Some stations could even reduce prices below $3 per gallon.
Texas is among 10 states likely to see average gasoline prices below $3.25 per gallon over the holiday weekend.
In the Houston metro area Wednesday morning, gasoline prices averaged $3.249 per gallon. That’s down from a peak this year of $3.493 per gallon in late June.
GasBuddy also forecast that U.S. demand for gasoline will likely be about 382 million gallons per day over the weekend — down about 5.2 percent from pre-recession peaks in 2006 and 2007.
Nationally, gasoline prices thus far in August have averaged $3.458. That’s $0.13 per gallon lower than the July average.
The most expensive Labor Day gasoline prices in the U.S. occurred in 2012, when gasoline prices averaged more than $3.83 per gallon.
They can’t even afford to have a back yard bbq with ground beef at record prices.
Not much has gone down. This is a pittance thrown at us while our wealth evaporates.
Nothing that will change anything. Nothing that means anything in the long term, just headlines for a couple of days.
Squirrels.
Must be an election coming up.
Yeah, it wasn’t like there was an election in 2012...
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