|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Retail gas prices continue to go down
By SUZETTE PORTER
Article published on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005 |
 |
![[Image]](/content_images/120705_fpg-03.jpg) |
| Photo by THOMAS MICHALSKI |
| The cost of gasoline is dropping almost as fast as it went up earlier this year. In September, left, a gallon of fuel at Albertson's Express Fuel on Park Boulevard in Pinellas Park was $3.15. At the same station on Dec. 3, the price was down to $1.96. |
|
PINELLAS COUNTY - Experts say its impossible to know if the national average price for a gallon of unleaded gasoline will drop below $2 or if the downward price trend will continue.
Retail gas prices have gone down for eight weeks in a row, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
Monday's Today's Gas Prices report from the EIA showed the national average price for all grades of gasoline down to $2.19, which is the lowest price reported since June 13, but still almost 21 cents higher than the same time last year.
According to the EIA, retail gas prices have dropped more than 77 cents in the past eight weeks. The average price nationwide for a gallon of unleaded reported by the EIA on Monday was $2.15.
AAA Auto Club's Fuel Gauge Report on Monday showed the average price for a gallon of unleaded in Tampa Bay to be $2.06, down from $2.49 reported last month, but higher than last year's price of $1.92 for the same date.
National retail diesel fuel prices fell 3.4 cents to reach $2.47 per gallon, which the EIA said was the lowest price since August 8. The U.S. average retail diesel price has fallen almost 68 cents per gallon during the last five weeks.
According to the Fuel Gauge Report, as of Monday, the average price for a gallon of diesel fuel in Tampa Bay was $2.49, down from $2.91 reported last month, but higher than last year's price of $2.21 reported on the same date last year.
Earlier this summer, the EIA said the national average price for a gallon of unleaded might never go below $2 again. The EIA's This Week in Petroleum report published Nov. 30 said it was impossible to know whether gas prices would drop below $2 this winter, although some locations already were reporting pump prices of less than $2.
The price of gasoline all depends on the supply of crude oil and how much is required to keep up with demand during the winter months.
U.S. offshore oil production has not recovered from the hurricane season and, according to the Minerals Management Service, more than 564,000 barrels per day of offshore crude oil remains out of production. Some analysts predict that it could be mid-2006 before production is back to normal.
The EIA said crude oil imports would have to be maintained at more than 10 million barrels per day to maintain crude oil inventories. A drop in the amount of oil imported, resulting in lowering of crude oil inventories could send gas prices back up again, the EIA said.
|
Article published on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2005
Copyright © Tampa Bay Newspapers: All rights reserved. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Tampa Bay Newspapers
9911 Seminole Blvd.
Seminole, FL 33772
(727) 397-5563
Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
|
|
