Summer Gas Prices Expected To Drop Even More

Even though most prices have gone up lately, gasoline will likely be the cheapest in the last six years this summer, economists and experts predict.

With prices staying at a moderate level this summer and the fact that they will probably be about a dollar cheaper a gallon than last year, drivers will be encouraged to keep their tanks full and use their cars for trips that they may have been canceling.

“This is cheapest driving season since the summer of 2009,” says Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service. And, he adds, 2009 was a year in full recession and fewer consumers could afford to travel or were in the mood for holidays.

The country’s national average gas price increased 20 cents in a month to $2.69 a gallon in the last week for regular gasoline due to higher crude oil prices and outages in West Coast refinery, the Energy Department announced. For 2015, the department now expects gas will average $2.43 a gallon, lower with 93 cents from last year. Next year, it says the situation will be good as well: an average price of $2.69 a gallon.

The average household in the United States will spend $675 less for gas this year than in the previous year, the department reported this week. As a result, people seem to be interested in more travel.

AAA expects the Memorial Day weekend on its own will see a 5.3% increase in car travel compared to the same three days from last year. It is likely that gas prices won’t change very much in the next couple of weeks until the beginning of the holiday, the Energy Department says.

The wild card when we are talking about current gas prices will continue to be the state of California, which is in control almost on a separate gasoline market from the rest of the United States when it come to volatility. After the summer, experts believe that bigger price drops will occur. Barring hurricanes, which, for a period of time, can drive prices through the roof if refineries on the Gulf Coast will shut down,and also many stations around the United States will be back to $2 price tag for gallon gas, experts explain.

Image Source: KGNS