Oil rebound may end summer gas drop

ALBANY — The Fourth of July is arriving with gas prices that are low compared to last Independence Day and recent years’ averages, but as oil prices rebound the decline may reverse in coming weeks, a market analyst said Monday.

“(T)he national average gasoline price has fallen over the last week yet again,” Dan McTeague, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, said Monday. “While it has been over a month since the national average last saw a weekly rise, it is looking more likely we will soon face just that.

“Oil prices have rebounded off the previous $42-per-barrel low, and now stand near $45 per barrel. It is just a matter of time before the national average bottoms out for the short-term, but at least the low prices were perfectly timed with what may be the lowest average gas prices of the summer as we celebrate the Fourth. While gasoline prices will likely begin to creep higher, the summer driving season could still end up being the lowest overall average since 2005.”

U.S. crude closed Monday at $47.07, up $1.03, or 2.24 percent.

GasBuddy surveys thousands of U.S. retailers in its Fuel Insights report, as does AAA Auto Group for its Daily Fuel Gauge Report. On Monday, the two surveys had the national average price of a gallon of gas a penny apart. GasBuddy had the average at $2.224, while AAA was at $2.234. Both prices were down a little over 4 cents from where the surveys had them last week.

Compared to last year, U.S. motorists are saving 4-5 cents per gallon, depending on the survey.

They were less than a penny apart for Georgia, where the Daily Fuel Gauge Report had the average Monday at $2.079, compared to GasBuddy’s estimate of $2.072. Last week, the two surveys had a wide variance, but compared to July 3, 2016, the average was 5.5-5.8 cents lower, depending on the survey.

In AAA’s look at Georgia’s eight largest metro areas, Albany’s five counties were middle of the pack with an average of $2.026, down 3 cents from last week and 14.5 cents cheaper than a month ago. Last year, metro Albany drivers were paying slightly more, $2.043.

The lowest average in Georgia was Augusta, which, at $1.979, also was the only metro area in the state that was averaging below the $2-per-gallon mark. Savannah nudged past Atlanta for the highest average, $2.123, which was more than a penny higher than Atlanta’s.

The tropical outlook did not indicate any threats to the Gulf fuel production area anytime soon, though the National Hurricane Center did note Monday a disturbance in the Atlantic, about 700 miles west/southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. That system had a 30 percent chance of forming a tropical cyclone within two days and a 70 percent chance within five days. NHC officials said it was expected to start moving west-northwestward within the next couple of days.