Appleton-area gas prices down this week

“The lower we can get the prices between now and then, the lower our starting point will be for next year”.

Gas prices are expected to continue to fall over the next six weeks, analysts say.

After soaring well above the rest of the nation, the average gasoline price in the Los Angeles region fell nearly 25 cents below their highs of a month ago.

“Obviously things are going much more smoothly”, Automobile Club of Southern California spokeswoman Marie Montgomery said Monday.

Average retail gasoline prices in Sacramento have fallen 8.4 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.25/g yesterday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 720 gas outlets in Sacramento. Motorists in the county are paying $15 less per 15-gallon tank than the same time past year. Gas hasn’t been below the $2 mark since 2009, when the U.S. was in the depths of the recession. But Janna Cadenas of Carolina Beach said the drop is a welcome mid-summer surprise.

The national average price is 87.9 cents cheaper than a year ago and 16.2 cents less per gallon than a month ago.

AAA said lower crude oil prices and strong refinery production are driving down gas prices.

Chicago gas prices have been on a downward trend since the middle of June. Analysts speculate prices could continue to decline in the near term. Improving conditions in the last month finally brought the state average from its mid-July peak at $3.90 down to the $3.60 recorded Monday.

“We expect it (the national average price) will be around $2.20 by December”, Hess said. Two in five drivers in the Northeast (43%) and Midwest (44%) reported lower prices, more than double the percentage reporting lower prices in the West (21%).

One reason is an El Nino (a warming of Pacific Ocean waters) is taking hold, which usually translates to a less active storm season in the Atlantic.