Let's celebrate low fuel prices

The price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in Kansas City over the weekend was $1.97.

Closer to home, the price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline was $2.09 recently.

This morning, the price was $2.11 and $2.19 in Holton.

Let’s celebrate it!

For many American motorists, $3-a-gallon gasoline is becoming a very distant memory.

Americans are likely to pay an average of about $2.60 a gallon in 2020, according to fuel savings experts’ annual forecasts. Others think that estimate is too high.

American drivers haven’t paid more than $3 a gallon nationwide since 2014, when prices averaged $3.36, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (Prices along the West Coast and in Hawaii have skewed higher.)

“It’s another good year for Americans to pump,’’ said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for the company GasBuddy. “I would not expect the national average this year to hit $3.’’

The highest national average price of gas was $4.11 on July 17, 2008, according to AAA.

Why has the average cost of gas been below $3 for so long?

The main reason is the nation’s oil boom, coupled with increases in output in other countries.

U.S. oil production spiked 38.6 percent from 8.84 million barrels a day in 2016 to 12.25 million in 2019 and is likely to rise to 13.18 million in 2020, according to the EIA.

The United States produces so much oil now that it actually exported more than it imported in September of 2019, the first month that has happened in recorded history ever!

Total vehicle miles traveled reached an all-time high in October of 2019, the latest period in which statistics were available, according to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. 

The 12-month moving average was 3.25 trillion miles in October, up 7.9 percent since the same point in 2014. 

Gas prices vary from region to region, city to city, and even block to block - based on how much fuel is sold at a location and how often new deliveries of fuel are accepted at a location. Each new delivery of fuel can cost a different price to the stores. They then pass on the increase or decrease.

Despite the projected low gas prices, don’t expect 2020 to pass without a few price swings, it was reported.

GasBuddy projected that prices would peak at about $2.84 per gallon in May. Prices typically rise in the lead-up to the summer travel season before falling through the end of the year.

The average American household is expected to pay about $1,935 on gas in 2020, up $2 from 2019 but down from $2,489 in 2014, the last time gas topped $3 per gallon.

Here at The Recorder., we watch the price of gas because we think it’s a good indication of how the local economy is going.                

The lower that gas prices go, the more discretionary income that Americans consumers have to spend on other family needs and wants.

Low gas prices are a good thing for consumers like you and me. Celebrate it! Use the extra money to pay off any debt or save some money for the first time in a long time. 

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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