After a summer of record-high gas prices, July’s end has brought a significant decrease in Texas gas prices.
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), as of Wednesday, the average price for regular fuel in Texas was $3.81, compared to a national average of $4.30.
Dallas County’s average was $3.76, according to price reports from GasBuddy — $1.13 per gallon higher than last year’s average of $3.16 but 60.6 cents per gallon lower than a month ago.
When gas prices began skyrocketing back in May, the online magazine Money cited a prediction from JPMorgan analysts “that if strong consumer demand for gas persists amid the lowest supply of gasoline in three years, average prices could surge to $6.20 per gallon by the end of the summer.”
Why are gas prices going down rather than continuing the upward climb?
This is mainly due to lower prices for crude oil, as reported by the Fort Worth-Star Telegram. Though fear of an impending recession marches across the globe, crude oil prices are dropping, thus lowering gas prices.
Daniel Armbruster, an AAA spokesperson, said there has also been a decline in demand at the pump, despite it being the height of the traditional summer road trip season.
Trading Economics said that crude oil futures “rebounded by more than 1.5% to above $96-per-barrel after three consecutive sessions of losses as a tight global market and the prospect of even more supply disruptions countered fears of a demand-sapping global recession.”
Will gas prices continue to drop? GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, said he expects the national average to drop below $4 by mid-August, should there be no sudden disruptions or disasters such as a hurricane.
