Get ready for some road trips, America. That is the likely outcome of the continued dip in gas prices. According to motor club AAA, the price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline has dropped 5 cents from the previous week.
According to an AAA report, the overall average price for a gallon of gas has dropped from $3.68 a month ago to $3.52 this week, a marked decrease that should give hope to families wanting to hit the road for vacation.
And if you are traveling through the middle of the country, expect the lowest prices available, with Missouri ranking as the cheapest place to buy a gallon, averaging around $3.26 per gallon. That's a stark comparison to New York, where customers are spending $3.85 per gallon.
"Crude prices have dropped in reaction to Libya having sizably hiked its oil production, and because Iraq's oil output has not been smashed by violence and turmoil there," said Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the survey, in an earlier statement this month.
The San Francisco Bay Area remains at the highest price for a gallon for any region in the U.S., with the region coming it at an average of $4.12 per gallon.
As earlier reported by Tech Times, gas prices appear to have hit their summer peak and are, as the survey points, ready to drop, and are expected to hit lows in September.
"These prices are a bit excessive, in my view,'' says Tom Kloza, senior energy analyst for gasbuddy.com. "I think we'll drift a bit lower -- with the occasional small bounce -- from now until Labor Day. After Labor Day, we should see a return of sub-$3 a gallon prices," in areas of the South, Rocky Mountains and Midwest.
Further unrest in Iraq, where the militant group ISIS has taken control of major oil-producing regions north of Baghdad, could destabilize the market and lead to increases in prices. Also, observers are cautious over possible storms in the Gulf of Mexico, where any problems or refinery outages could see spikes in pricing.
