begin quote from:
It's
not exactly high driving season, but for those who venture out on the
roads, there will be plenty of relatively cheap gasoline. Gas prices
have been falling for about three weeks, with the snow and rain of the
winter season …
It's not exactly high driving season, but for those who venture out on the roads, there will be plenty of relatively cheap gasoline.
Gas prices have been falling for about three weeks, with the snow and rain of the winter season having dampened demand for driving, says Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com.
On Friday, gas prices stood at almost $2.29 a gallon nationally, still up from the $1.82 a gallon on the same date a year ago, according to AAA's daily Fuel Gauge Report.
Prices started rising at the end of November when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) came to a production limitation agreement aimed at holding up the price of oil. At that time, OPEC member countries agreed to slash production by 1.2 million barrels of oil per day and even non-member Russia consented to a 300,000-barrel cut.
Earlier this month, prices started settling again with the seasonal drop-off in driving.
"Rain and storms in California have really muted demand," DeHaan says. Prices are low because the country is awash in inventories of gasoline. In Ohio, he says, gas is below $2 a gallon at about 40% of the stations.
Warmer weather and spring gasoline reformulations could drive prices up again.
"Once Valentine's Day is over, buckle up," he says. "Good ol' supply-and-demand will take back over."
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