AAA survey finds retail gasoline prices down penny in Texas

Areas nearby Texas and their current gas price climate: Midland Odessa- $1.85/g, down 1.5 cents per gallon from last week’s $1.87/g. US oil was trading at less than $36 a barrel as of early Thursday, a five-year low.

The Oil Price Information Service said US gas prices averaged about $2.30 a gallon in 2015, which is down 94 cents from 2014. The national price decline has stalled and recently nudged up a hair based on localized spikes in the Great Lakes region. Oil at $2.40 a gallon translates into a bill of about $1,680 per season.

AAA said the trend is likely to continue through 2016 which should keep gas prices low.

The sunshine state would join 25 others with averages below $2, including Georgia, whose average fell below $2 a gallon November 24 and Tennessee, where average slipped under $2 November 14.

That’s a decrease of almost 2 cents from last week and makes Arizona the 26th state with a gasoline average of under $2 per gallon.

According to GasBuddy.com, in California, gas prices before Christmas will probably tick up, but after that, there is still so much of a glut of crude oil in the world that gas prices will tick down toward the end of February. AAA Two Diamond hotels average $119 per night, an 11 percent increase from previous year.

GasBuddy predicts the prices will continue to drop through January and then slowly climb during the spring.

The national average for diesel is $1.05 less than a year ago.

“Global oil prices hit their lowest levels since 2009 over the past week and the sentiment that prices will remain lower for longer is gaining traction”, said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA.

All of this is good news for motorists as they prepare for holiday travel.

AAA of the Carolinas predicts almost 3 million people will travel 50 miles or more for the holidays.