Cheapest Summer At The Pump In 10 Years, Gas Analyst Predicts
DEARBORN (CBS Detroit) - Gas prices statewide have risen by about 14 cents a gallon in the past week — but don't fret just yet.
AAA Michigan said, as of Sunday, the average price for self-serve regular gasoline was about $2.12 per gallon; and that's still about 31 cents less than it was at the same point last year.
AAA said the national price and prices in all ten surveyed Michigan metropolitan areas also are above the $2 mark.
Patrick DeHann, Senior Petroleum Analyst for GasBuddy.com, attributes the jump to a $4-a-barrel increase in oil prices last week due to speculation about a meeting by oil ministers in Quatar. It was predicted that traders might agree to an oil output freeze or cut — but that didn't happen, DeHann said.
By Monday morning, the price per barrel had already dropped to about $38, which is about a 2 percent dip. Now, DeHann said, depending on what goes on with an oil worker strike in Kuwait, we could see oil prices decrease even further.
"They were going to tank, but now we need to see what happens with the strike," he told CBS Detroit.
All that business aside, DeHann said, metro Detroit motorists should see gas prices continue to cool down from the jump last week; even if they're not quite as crazy low as they were when the year began.
"Summertime gas prices are always higher — demand goes up," DeHann said. "But we should see summertime prices stay in the low to mid-$2 range this year; and that's going to lead to cheapest summer at the pump in 10 years," (barring a major catastrophe).
Early Monday, metro Detroiters were reporting service stations dropping prices into the $1.80-range.
At noon, GasBuddy.com reported the best price in metro Detroit was $1.85 (for cash) at the Sunoco station at 14 Mile and Utica Road. Or, for those with a membership, the same price was being offered at the Costco at Gratiot Ave., near 11 Mile Rd. in Roseville.
The highest price, at $2.99 a gallon, was reported at a Marathon station at West Rd. and Grange in Trenton; while the highest average price was about $2.14 per gallon in the Ann Arbor area.
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