Cheap Gas Prices: Gasoline Stations Continue Selling at Low Rates, But Experts Say Pump Price May Go Up in February 2015
Gas prices continue to fall sending more drivers to the pumps to fill up. The national average of $2.09 per gallon, according to data from AAA, is well over a dollar lower than the price of $3.31 a year ago. With gas prices falling and temperatures mild around the lower 48 states, consumers might want to hit the roads a little more than in the past.
Marketwatch reported it may be time to fill up now before prices start an upward trend as early as February. The reasoning behind this is refineries usually start preparing for the spring and summer driving seasons that month.
"There is room for gas prices to keep dropping due to a nationwide supply glut, yet the volatile futures markets this week suggests an uncertain future," Michael Green, an AAA spokesman, said. "(Friday's) average dropped by only fractions of a cent, which was the smallest daily decline since November."
Prices could continue to drop in January but then head up 30-50 cents in February, Green said.
More demand is expected in 2015 for gas. Gasoline demand was expected to be 8.8 million barrels a day, which was revised to 9 million barrels per day earlier this week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Meanwhile, oil futures gained Friday to $48.12 due to Non-OPEC producers of oil expected to produce at a slower rate than expected.
"The IEA report is the first serious evidence that low oil prices are rebalancing the market," Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts, told Bloomberg by phone. "The price has probably gone down enough. We've rebounded a few times as prices have dropped and it will be interesting to see how things work out this time."
With more oil coming from OPEC nations, OPEC can control the prices better.
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