Gas Prices Continue to Decline
By: Stephanie Castillo
Updated: December 19, 2011
Gas prices in the United States fell
more than 5 cents over the past two weeks as crude oil prices dropped,
continuing a decline in pump prices that started
in late October, according to a survey published Sunday.
The average price of regular gasoline
is $3.24 a gallon, the Lundberg Survey found.
That's down 5.25 cents from two weeks
earlier, and down a total of 24 cents in the past six weeks, said
publisher Trilby
Lundberg.
"In these two weeks, the decline comes
from a serious drop in the crude oil price of more than $7 per barrel,"
Lundberg
said.
The "continued demand destruction from
our under-employment level" is also pushing gasoline prices downward,
she said.
"That underlies whatever else is going on."
The end of gas price drops in the
United States could be near, but the key in the coming months lies in
Europe, she
said.
"The retail gas price direction will
depend mostly on what crude oil prices do and they are up in the air due
to Europe's
debt crisis, and what Europe may do to address that," she said.
The oil futures market does not
currently see much change in the coming months for crude, she said.
The price decline in November came
because refiners and retailers "were unable to pass through the higher
oil prices
because American motorists' demand for gasoline continues to shrink due
to hard economic conditions."
(Copyright CNN) Read more
(Copyright CNN) Read more
