MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US gasoline prices at the pump could fall under US$ 3 per gallon by Christmas

United States gasoline prices have declined on average 16 cents to US$ 3,403 a gallon, while gas prices have declined 43 cents over the past 30 days, and are US$ 1.01 cents higher than a year ago.

According to oilprice site working with Gas Buddy data from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gasoline stations across the US show that gas prices are actually lower than where they at 12 months ago.

“For the first time in 670 days, the national average price of gasoline has fallen below its year-ago level, dropping for the fourth straight week to its lowest level since January,“ said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

“Every state has again seen average gasoline prices drop in the last week, and it remains very possible the national average could fall under US$3 per gallon by Christmas. There has also been a drop in diesel prices, which this week will fall back under US$ 5 per gallon, and could soon thereafter fall to their lowest level since March,” de Haan added.

Diesel prices are also falling, having declined 13.6 cents in the last week and now standing at US$ 5.06 per gallon as per AAA. However, diesel prices are still US$ 1.46 cents higher than a year ago.

There are still some concerns, though, with GasBuddy noting uncertainty ahead as the price cap on Russian oil kicks in, and retaliation by Russia by holding back supplies and/or OPEC+ cutting production even deeper, which is likely to lead to higher crude prices.

So far, recession fears have remained a steady undercurrent in the oil markets recently for much of the current year, as have the tight supply situation that exists in the energy markets overall.

The International Monetary Fund has said that the world was headed for ”stormy waters” as it downgraded its global growth projections for next year and also warned of a harsh worldwide recession if policymakers mishandled the fight against inflation.