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AAA says fuel prices my 'drift' downward
By SUZETTE PORTER
Article published on Monday, June 23, 2008 |
PINELLAS COUNTY - The price of a gallon of unleaded gas is down a penny from the record high set on June 18, according to the June 23 Daily Fuel Guage Report from AAA.
And officials believe it could be just the start of a small downward trend.
In a national teleconference Friday with AAA Clubs, Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, said he expects fuel prices in the upcoming week to “drift” as opposed to a “spike” or a “plunge,” according to a press release from Auto Club South.
Kloza added that while this is the time of year when fuel prices typically decline by 10 percent to 15 percent from spring peaks, “this is not that kind of year.”
Local experts agree.
“Following his (Kloza's) lead, we agree that little has changed that would point to any dramatic price movement this week in either direction," said Randy Bly, director of community relations, AAA Auto Club South. "Supply and demand fundamentals are relatively unchanged; the stock market indices dropped at the end of the week as crude oil prices moved higher. Saudi Arabia’s move to increase production may add some stability, but for now, it simply appears that retail prices may slip, but only slightly.”
Crude oil settled Friday on the NYMEX at $134.62 per barrel.
As of Monday, the average pump price for a gallon of unleaded in the metro area of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater was $3.968 - down 1.1 cent from the record high of $3.979 set on June 18. Diesel fuel also was down with the average price reported at $4.742. The record for a gallon of diesel fuel in the Tampa Bay area was set on June 18 at $4.761.
Tampa Bay remained one of only three reporting metro areas with gas prices averaging less than $4. Orlando still has the least expensive gas in the state at an average of $3.937, followed by the Tampa Bay area and Pensacola at $3.978.
AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report is updated each day and reflects actual prices from credit card transactions within the past 24 hours at two-thirds (100,000 stations) of the gasoline stations in the U.S. For more information, visit www.fuelgaugereport.com.
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Article published on Monday, June 23, 2008
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