Gasoline prices on the retreat
Expectation that OPEC will lift caps pushes down oil
Gasoline prices in Texas and across the country fell again over the past week as crude prices dove amid expectations that OPEC will ramp up oil production later this month.
Gas prices in San Antonio fell 2.8 cents from last week to $2.61 a gallon. Prices are nearly 57 cents higher than a year ago and are down 1.3 cents compared to mid-May. The prices are higher than the same time in 2015, when prices were $2.56 a gallon.
Regionally, Laredo saw the largest drop with prices down nearly 5 cents to $2.60 a gallon. Corpus Christi gas prices fell 2.7 cents to $2.61, while Austin dropped 2 cents to $2.67 a gallon.
Nationally, the average price fell 3 cents to $2.91 a gallon, GasBuddy said.
The declines follow several months of rising prices as crude prices topped $72 a barrel last month. Nationally, gas prices nationally are nearly 59 cents a gallon higher than a year ago; San Antonio and Houston prices are up 54 and 56 cents, respectively.
Oil prices settled in New York Monday at $65.85, up 1.21 percent.
Average gasoline prices were closing in on $3 a gallon at the end of last month, but they retreated when Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would consider raising output. Already, his country has reportedly started ramping up production after two years of cutting it.
OPEC and its partners, including Russia, meet later this month to discuss lifting output caps that curbed production by 1.8 million barrels a day. They went into effect in the beginning of 2017. U.S. drillers, meanwhile, are producing record amounts of crude oil.
“A solid majority of states saw average gas prices decline last week,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, “and I expect we’ll hold that trajectory again this week.”