MSN.COM
U.S. gasoline pump prices are poised to drop below $2 a gallon for the first time in more than six years, which is sure to bring comfort and joy to drivers. Oil has plunged by 39 percent since June and may keep falling after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries essentially lifted the ceiling on its crude production.
Americans have saved about $100 billion on fuel this year, which comes to more than $350 a person, according to Michael Green, a spokesman in Washington for AAA. The lower prices and the recovery in the U.S. economy have put more Americans on the road than ever before and refiners are churning out fuel at a record pace.
“It’s just a matter of time before we breach $2,” said Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy Organization in Chicago. “We’re seeing oil prices reflect market conditions and that’s passing on to gasoline.”
Crude fell to the lowest in more than six years Monday after OPEC refused to limit its output. The average price of regular gasoline, meanwhile, was $2.019 a gallon on Tuesday, less than half the record $4.114 set in July 2008, according to Heathrow, Florida-based AAA, a national federation of motor clubs.
U.S. refineries produced 9.84 million barrels a day of the motor fuel in October, an all-time high for the month, the American Petroleum Institute said Nov. 19. Gasoline inventories on Nov. 20 were the highest for this time of year since 1990, Energy Information Administration data show.
