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Santa comes early at pump: gas at lowest price since 2009

The Columbian
Published: December 23, 2014, 4:00pm

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Vancouver dropped to $2.65 per gallon this week, down from $2.79 per gallon one week ago, AAA Oregon/Idaho reported Tuesday. Washington’s average of $2.66 is down by 16 cents for the week, and Oregon’s $2.62 average price is down by 15 cents in a week.

Washington has the eighth-highest prices in the nation, and Oregon’s are the 10th highest. The national average is $2.38 per gallon, AAA reported.

HOUSTON — The average price of regular gasoline at U.S. pumps slid to the lowest level since May 15, 2009, dropping 24.68 cents in the two weeks ended Dec. 19 to $2.4713 a gallon, according to Lundberg Survey Inc.

Prices are 79.05 cents lower than a year ago, according to the survey, which is based on information obtained at about 2,500 filling stations by the Camarillo, Calif.-based company. The latest plunge in crude oil prices may lead to a further decline at the pump by a few more pennies, according to Trilby Lundberg, the president of Lundberg Survey.

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Vancouver dropped to $2.65 per gallon this week, down from $2.79 per gallon one week ago, AAA Oregon/Idaho reported Tuesday. Washington's average of $2.66 is down by 16 cents for the week, and Oregon's $2.62 average price is down by 15 cents in a week.

Washington has the eighth-highest prices in the nation, and Oregon's are the 10th highest. The national average is $2.38 per gallon, AAA reported.

Retail gasoline fell after crude prices dropped for the fourth consecutive week amid increasing production and weaker-than-expected global demand. Slumping prices at the pump will save U.S. households $550 next year, the Energy Information Administration said.

“It is a dramatic boon to fuel consumers,” Lundberg said in a telephone interview. Gasoline “is a modest portion of our giant gross domestic product and yet it does have a pervasive and festive benefit to motorists.”

The highest price for gasoline in the lower 48 states among the markets surveyed was on Long Island, N.Y., at $2.82 a gallon, Lundberg said. The lowest price was in Tulsa, Okla., where customers paid an average $2.06 a gallon. Regular gasoline averaged $2.74 in Los Angeles.

U.S. oil output rose to 9.14 million barrels a day in the week ended Dec. 12, the highest level in weekly EIA data dating back to 1983. U.S. production has increased 65 percent in five years as companies have used horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to tap into hydrocarbon-rich layers of underground shale rock.

The EIA said last week that global crude consumption next year will be 390,000 barrels a day less in 2015 than it forecast in October.

Gasoline costs for the average American household next year are expected to be the lowest since 2004 because of falling prices and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks that reduce the number of gallons used to travel a given distance, according to the EIA.

Refineries processed 16.3 million barrels of oil a day in the week of Dec. 12 after using 16.63 million the week before, the highest level in records dating back to 1989.

Gasoline stockpiles grew 5.25 million barrels, or 2.4 percent, in the week ended Dec. 12 to 222 million, EIA data show.

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