The average retail price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States cost 2.03 cents less last week than two weeks before, but prices are set to move up as crude oil prices rise, an industry analyst said Sunday.
The national average for self-serve, regular unleaded gas was about $2.7932 a gallon on Sept. 21, down from $2.8135 a gallon on Sept. 7, according to the nationwide Lundberg survey of about 7,000 gas stations.
"That's a very small slip in the U.S. average price. It came from a substantial down correction in the Midwest, where gasoline supplies had been very tight but are normalizing," survey editor Trilby Lundberg said.
Gasoline prices are up about 37 cents per gallon from a year ago, but remain about 39 cents per gallon below the all-time U.S. average high of $3.1827 on May 18, Lundberg said.
"The two-cent drop is only an interruption in the upward march for retail gasoline. There's now well more than a dime waiting in the wings" due to a rise in crude oil prices, Lundberg said.
At $3.16 a gallon, Chicago had the highest average price for self-serve, regular unleaded gas, while the lowest price found was $2.51 a gallon in Newark, New Jersey.