Gas prices plunge 14 cents over past 2 weeks

The U.S. average diesel price is $2.19 per gallon, down about 12 cents from two weeks ago.

The past week saw Nashville gas prices drop an average of 6.5 cents per gallon.

Amarillo gas prices fell 8.4 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $1.59/g yesterday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 147 gas outlets in Amarillo.

Even with what was something of a “recovery” in the oil market late last week, prices at San Antonio gas pumps continue to fall.

The overall average for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel in the Capital Region sat at $2.048 Monday morning, according to AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report, down from $2.423 a year ago.

Des Moines- $2.00/g, down 4.7 cents per gallon from last week’s $2.05/g. But the real impact of that drop is muted by the timing, as prices traditionally are at their lowest in January and February, when demand is also at its lowest. Will Speer, a GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst, said gasoline inventories at 245 million barrels are the highest the US has had since March 1990, suggesting that gas prices will remain low for some time.

Some speculators have said they believe the price of oil has bottomed out and could reach $50 by the end of 2016, and $70 next year.

In Houston, pump prices are as cheap as $1.32 a gallon at an Exxon station at Fondren Road and Harwin Drive, and as pricey as $2.59 per gallon in the Galleria area and along Interstate 10.