What they’re saying about plummeting gasoline prices “Drivers smiling…’I’m thrilled’” Gannett News Service (9/14/2006): Gas, natural gas to cost less …Gasoline and natural gas prices will be lower than previously thought, according to the Energy Information Administration’s monthly short-term forecast. EIA now believes the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline will be $2.65 for all of this year and next year. That’s down from EIA’s forecast last month of $2.72 this year, $2.67 next year. The average this year is $2.689, according to EIA data. Tuesday, the nationwide average was $2.613, down 1.1 cents overnight, according to AAA. In south central Ohio, the average price was $2.425, a decrease of 15 cents from the previous week and 42 cents below the high point of $3.03 that was hit Aug. 7. * * * The Toledo Blade (9/14/2006): Area drivers smiling as fuel price plummets Gasoline down by $1 a gallon Michael Cole watched as the dollars ticked away on the gas pump and then smiled when it stopped just shy of $25. It’s been a long time since that’s happened, the Ottawa Lake, Mich., man said. “It’s a 12-gallon tank and it’s been costing at least $40 to fill it up. Now it’s at $24 and it’s almost full,” he said as he topped off the tank of his Chevrolet Cavalier at the Speedway on Central Avenue near U.S. 23. “It’s just a relief to have a little extra money.” Drivers filling up at area pumps yesterday were treated to the lowest prices seen in a while. Nationwide, the average price of regular gasoline fell to about $2.61 a gallon. Locally, it was even lower, ranging from $2.13 in Sylvania Township and Holland to $2.27 in Oregon. The recent drop means gas is more than $1 a gallon cheaper than it was about a month ago, when on Aug. 7, the national average peaked at more than $3 a gallon. … Colleen Hester of Liberty Center, Ohio, filled up her minivan at the Sterling Store in downtown Bowling Green. The $2.19 a gallon she paid was the lowest price she had seen in a long time. “I’m thrilled to see it,” she said. “I hope it stays. I hope it goes lower.” * * * The Orlando Sentinel (9/14/06) Falling pump prices fuel smiles Locally, a gallon of gas costs about 25 cents less than its recent high and may even drop to $2, experts said. …Given current wholesale prices, gasoline prices could go to less than $2.25 per gallon nationally, according to Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service. In some parts of the country, he added, marquees touting $1.99 a gallon are possible. On Wednesday, the national average for unleaded regular gasoline was $2.59. “It is conceivable now, considering how much wholesale prices have dropped,” he said of gas costing less than $2 a gallon. * * * The Victoria Advocate (9/14/06): Gas prices could fall to below $2 a gallon Gasoline prices could fall below the $2 mark in coming weeks after already falling 70 cents in the last month, analysts said Wednesday. Price drops seen thus far have reduced the price of a 15-gallon tank of gasoline by $10.50, with most stations in Victoria advertising $2.199 a gallon for regular gasoline Wednesday morning. The drop in street prices reflects a similar drop in the wholesale markets, said Jon New, president of New Distributing in Victoria. The present street price is the lowest seen in the city since early March. The same forces that pushed prices down to their present level could continue to push prices down below a $2 street price, analysts said. “We’re really where we should have been all along to tell you the truth. All the rest of it was pretty much hype and problems caused by the hurricanes last year,” said Henry Luddeke, wholesale manager with Western Petroleum in Cuero. “The law of supply and demand has finally caught up with everything.” * * * The Macon Telegraph (9/14/06) How low will they go? Crude oil prices, ample supply partly behind lower gas prices Gas at the BP station at the corner of Shurling Drive and Gray Highway in Macon was $2.49 for ultimate, $2.39 for silver, and $2.29 for regular unleaded gasoline Wednesday afternoon. John Simmons of Macon says he’s quit trying to figure why gasoline prices keep yo-yoing. He’s just happy they are on the way down. The regular unleaded he was pumping into his pickup at lunchtime Wednesday at the Flash Foods on Vineville Avenue at Forest Hill Road was $2.29 a gallon. That was 30 cents a gallon less than Wednesday’s national average of $2.59, according to AAA’s Fuel Gauge Web site, and way down from the national average of $3 a gallon just a month ago. ####