The nation hasn’t seen the average gasoline price below three dollars a gallon since December of 2010, according to AAA Oklahoma. It reached $2.98 over the weekend, leading AAA spokesman Chuck Mai to say, “Motorists across the nation are experiencing ‘sticker delight’ with these new low pump prices. Ironically though, Oklahoma’s average is still above the three-dollar mark, but just by one-tenth of a cent.”
The new national average under $3 a gallon put an end to the longest streak ever above the price. The auto club estimates lower gasoline prices are helping consumers save at least $250 million a day on gasoline compared to eary summer when the national average reached $3.68 a gallon. The national average gasoline pice was higher than $3 a gallon for 1,409 consecutive days. During the time period, accoding to AAA Oklahoma, U.S. gasoline pices averaged $3.52 a gallon and climbed as high as $3.98 a gallon on May 5, 2011.
As a result, more than 60 percent of all stations in the U.S. are selling gasoline for less than $3 a gallon today.
“Locally, our Oklahoma market is still reeling from the one-two punch of a major refinery near Amarillo being down for maintenance during October and pipelines coming in from Texas being full of diesel for the harvest instead of gasoline, keeping supplies tight for us and drivers in many Midwestern states,” explained Mai. “But, state prices have bgun drifting lower. The Oklahoma average has dipped three cents per gallon in the last few days to an average of $3.001 today.”
As for the winter driving months? AAA predicts prices to remain relatively low due to lower demand and typical season trends.
