Gasoline prices in the US have dropped to the lowest level since May, 2009. According to Lundberg Survey Inc., regular gasoline in the US dropped by 4.68 cents in the two weeks ended Dec. 19 down to $2.4713 a gallon.
Last year prices were 79.05 cents higher than now, the survey revealed. The data was gathered from 2,500 filling stations by the Camarillo, California-based company.
Trilby Lundberg, the president of Lundberg Survey, said that the recent decline in crude oil could cause a further decline in US gasoline prices by a few pennies.
Crude prices have dropped significantly since the summer because of an oversupply of the commodity and a lack of demand. As crude slides so does the price that US consumers have to pay for gasoline.
The Energy Information Administration said that the drop in gasoline prices is expected to save American households approximately $550 in 2015.
In a telephone interview with Bloomberg, Mr. Lunderberg said that “it is a dramatic boon to fuel consumers,” adding that gasoline “is a modest portion of our giant gross domestic product and yet it does have a pervasive and festive benefit to motorists.”
The highest price of gasoline (of the states surveyed) was at Long Island, New York, at $2.82 a gallon. While the lowest price was reported to be in Tusla, Oklahoma, with customers only paying $2.06 per gallon.
Gasoline hasn’t been so cheap in years.
Crude oil plunging
West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 14 percent in the two weeks to Dec. 19, down to $56.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Since June 20, prices have plunged by 47 percent.
American production has soared by 65 percent over the past five years, as US drilling companies ramped up activity.
With cars becoming more fuel-efficient along with falling crude prices, gasoline costs for the average US household are expected to be at the lowest level since 2004 next year, according to the EIA.
Low crude prices means less spending on heating oil this winter
Heating oil prices have declined with crude oil prices. The EIA expects that “average heating oil expenditures by households that use oil as their primary heating fuel during the 2014-15 winter will be 27% ($632) below last winter’s expenditures.”