Less pain at the pump: Gas prices continue falling

As the longest streak of gas price decline since January keeps going on, there is much more to come.

Drivers in some states may even be paying less than $2 a gallon on average by the wintertime.

With crude oil prices down almost 20% over the last month, summer drivers are smiling at the gas pump.

“Numerous refinery issues had a dramatically negative effect on Midwest gasoline prices this past spring”, said Greg Seiter, public affairs manager at AAA Hoosier Motor Club. In short, supply continues to outpace domestic demand and as a result, West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, fell below $50 per barrel this past week for the first time since April.

The new report, “Pump Primer: How U.S. Gasoline Prices are Set”, is part of a series of reports IHS has done focused on the United States crude oil export policy.

Prices in selected cities in the state range from $2.42 per gallon in Lawton to $2.69 in Guymon.

“All things being equal, a $12 drop in the cost of crude oil should send gas prices down by nearly 30 cents per gallon”, said Green. “In fact, production is reported to have reached a 2015 high, bringing more finished product onto the market”.

The current nationwide average is $2.68, eight cents below what it was just one month ago. That when most states are able to switch away from the more environmentally-friendly summer-grade gasoline. “We will see thousands of stations in dozens of states with sub-$2 gasoline prices by then”.