In light of tumbling oil prices, how low will gas prices at the pump fall?
Gregg Laskoski, senior analyst in the Southeast for consumer website GasBuddy.com, tells Gannett Louisiana that prices are falling across Louisiana and the nation. GasBuddy is predicting a relentless downward march in gas prices that will end with the national average for a gallon of regular under $2 a gallon by year’s end.
Average gas pump prices around the country have plunged from around $2.80 to an expected $2.66 today. That’s a reflection of strong gasoline inventories and refinery outputs of about 95%. Gulf Coast refineries are at 94.7% out, according to federal figures.
GasBuddy is projecting national gas prices will slip to $2.54 in August, $2.43 in September, $2.28 in October, $2.10 in November and $1.98 in December. Twenty states—Louisiana among them—will average less than $2 a gallon for gas.
Louisiana pump prices generally run substantially lower than national prices—27 cents this month. In Baton Rouge as of this afternoon, regular unleaded gas was selling for an average of $2.37, according to GasBuddy, with some stations selling it for as low as $2.12. There’s no reason for the downward trend to change, Laskoski says.
Low pump prices are saving consumers some $75 to $150 a month, depending on the numbers of vehicles they own and how fuel efficient those vehicles are, says Don Redman, spokesman for AAA in Louisiana.
“It does a lot for a household budget,” he says.
