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Gas Prices Expected to Keep Dropping; State Average for Regular Dips to Lowest Cost in Months $2.36 a Gallon

Posted on: Saturday, 12 November 2005, 15:00 CST

By DARRYL ENRIQUEZ

With the cost of gasoline at its lowest in months, area motorists with travel plans for Thanksgiving should enjoy a continued drop in petroleum prices, provided a terrorist attack or natural disaster doesn't ignite another round of markups, gasoline supply experts said Friday.

The state average for a gallon of regular gasoline Friday was at $2.36 a gallon, 2 cents a gallon more than the national average, according to AAA Wisconsin.

In the Milwaukee-Waukesha area, regular gas averaged $2.35 a gallon, according to AAA. A spot check around the greater Milwaukee area found gasoline down to $2.24 a gallon at a Citgo station on N. 76th St. and W. Capitol Drive and $2.28 at a PDQ near I-94 and Moreland Blvd. in Waukesha.

The price of gas hit a record high in late August when it averaged $3.11 a gallon statewide.

"The short-term outlook is pretty good for continued low prices," said Michael Bie, AAA spokesman.

Federal statistics showed a downturn in gasoline consumption last month, which probably helped to create a downturn in prices, he said. Also, the cost of a crude oil sank to $57 a barrel Friday, down from more than $70 a barrel this year.

"The cost of crude oil continues to drop," said Erin Roth, executive director of Wisconsin Petroleum Council. "If the trends continue, we should see stabilization in price."

The nation now has increased inventories of gas available to the Midwest, which has led to falling prices, Roth said. A drop in motorists' demand for gas, along with reopened Southern refineries and newly arrived foreign crude oil, have made gas readily available, Roth said.

Prices can turn quickly if an international incident or a natural disaster occurs before Thanksgiving, as made evident by the rocketing prices that followed Hurricane Katrina, Roth said.

As for now, dropping gas prices were good news for Alicia Marlow, who filled up her minivan Friday at a Waukesha PDQ. With two sons in college and four licensed drivers in her family, the Marlows are dedicated watchers of gasoline costs, she said.

The family normally travels to Illinois for a Thanksgiving family get-together, but they would have stayed put if the gas prices had remained at late-August levels, she said. Travel costs are not an issue this year because the family has plans to celebrate the holiday at home, she said.

Brian Cass, another PDQ customer, said that unlike the Marlows, he isn't much of a price watcher. If he wants to travel this Thanksgiving, the cost will not affect his plans, he said.

Cass hedged somewhat in saying that he appreciates spending $40 instead of $50 to fill up his SUV.

"Sometimes when I go inside to pay, I look for the finance desk," Cass joked.

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN

$3.11 Average price of a gallon of gas in Wisconsin in late August

$2.24 Lowest gas price in the greater Milwaukee area Friday

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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