Price of gas continues to fall

A steep decline in oil prices in recent weeks has caused gas prices to fall 51 of the last 52 days in Florida, according to AAA.

Including the area’s change in gas prices during the past week, prices Sunday were 101.1 cents per gallon lower than the same day one year ago and were 22.1 cents per gallon lower than a month ago.

If falling oil prices are a sign of things to come in the market for gasoline prices, then in some states where the cost of an average gallon of regular has dropped below $2.25, it is likely still falling.

That even transformed some of the higher prices at gas stations on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway from “no-way” to “I might stop there” during the past week. Because of that, Florida generally has higher gas prices than its neighbors, which use pipelines to collect gas.

GasBuddy earlier reported local gas prices could fall under $2.00 by Christmas.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the domestic benchmark for crude oil, has reached its lowest price since March 2015, and prices are reportedly projected to continue to decline in the near term.

According to NBC News, a 250,000 barrel-per-day crude distillation unit at the refinery – in Indiana near the Illinois border – went down with a mechanical problem, impacting not only gas production but also asphalt and jet fuel.

Drivers in LA can see the big spread of prices throughout the area. The national average is $2.59 a gallon.

Here in South Carolina the average price per gallon of regular unleaded now stands at $2.19 – lowest in the nation.

“There will be thousands, even tens of thousands of stations below $2 by the time we’re into football season”. Gas is more expensive in the summer due to EPA rules requiring the sale of lower-volatility gasoline, which produces less ground-level ozone. 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.