Mid-Valley Gas Prices Expected to Stay Above $2.00

By Kymm Mann, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.

Dec. 14–Mid-Valley residents may have a little extra money for holiday shopping if retail gas prices throughout the state continue dropping.

AAA of Northern California reported Tuesday a 32-cent drop in the average price of gas from a month ago. The average is now $2.29 per gallon, but prices are still 10 cents more than last year’s price per gallon.

Marysville’s average is at $2.13, a 19-cent drop from last month.

“In the past week, the rate of decline has slowed to just a couple of cents,” AAA Spokesman Michael Geeser said in a statement. “That signals gas prices are stabilizing as the year comes to an end. But considering what Californians were paying for gas just a few months ago, these prices appear to be more tolerable.”

Geeser deemed it “unlikely” the national average for gas would drop to $2 by the new year, as crude oil prices surge.

“As the weather turns colder across the country, the demand goes up for energy, which includes oil,” he said. “Colder than normal temperatures back east recently have driven crude oil over the $60 level for the first time in four weeks.”

The most expensive average gas price in communities monitored by the AAA currently is in Yreka, a town located between Mt. Shasta and the Oregon border. The lowest price was logged in San Rafael, at an average of $2.09 per gallon.

The most expensive gas in the nation is in Wailuku, Hawaii, where a gallon of regular unleaded gas costs an average of $2.85. Salt Lake City, Utah, came in at the lowest average of $1.92.

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