Experts Hint at Upcoming Gas Price Changes After a Sudden Shift in the Price of Crude Oil
Gas prices might be on the brink of falling a bit after the price of U.S. crude oil fell on Tuesday.
Gas futures fell more than 10 percent the same day. Overall, futures are down more than 22 percent since June, The Hill reported.
Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI), which is the oil benchmark for American oil prices, ended the day on Tuesday 8.2 percent lower, Reuters reported.
The price fell to $99.07 per barrel.
While that price has since gone up to $102.10 per barrel today, the initial dip and fall of futures have people optimistic, Oil Price reported.
“We’re on the cusp of seeing more savings,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at gas price tracking site GasBuddy, The Hill reported.
“I’m trying to be a little bit optimistic here that this relief could make its entire way to the pump in the weeks ahead,” he added.
Overall, the national average price for gas has gone down from the recent high of $5, CNN reported.
As of Thursday, the national gas price average is $4.75, according to AAA.
The prices could keep falling economists have predicted.
“We’re talking about 60 cents a gallon,” Marianne Kah, a scholar at Columbia University and the former chief economist at oil company ConocoPhillips, told The Hill. “Now, of course it takes time to have the crude price flow through to the gasoline price.”
Meanwhile, De Haan also predicted a similar fall in prices. But he also believes that it could take three to six weeks for the fall.
“The average price per gallon could fall 40 to 65 cents over the coming weeks,” De Haan said.
“Stations are getting lower prices already. Prices could go down a penny or two every day or two for the next six weeks as long as nothing changes,” he added.
One reason that prices have gone down is also because demand has gone down slightly.
As prices spiked, drivers started cutting down on driving and expenses.
“We’re starting to see from the consumers, instead of paying $5 a gallon, they’re paying $4.80 a gallon — and isn’t that wonderful — but it’s also because they don’t have as much money in their pockets, and they’re not going out to dinner and to eat, so what we’re seeing is a pullback in demand. And that’s because people are feeling the pain of higher prices,” Phil Flynn, energy markets analyst with the PRICE Futures Group, said in an interview with The Hill.
But global oil prices have also gone down.
Brent crude, which is the global oil price benchmark, dipped down below $100 briefly on Wednesday, The Hill reported.
That was the first time since April that prices went below $100.
Brent is back up to $104 today, however.
But while some are happy and optimistic about gas prices finally going down, the prices are still much higher than previous record highs for gas prices, Forbes reported.
In 2008, after the economic crash, gas prices hit $4.103 per gallon.
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