The auto club cites the changeover to winter blend gasoline.
Towson, Md (KM) While the traffic may hold you up in getting to your destination, the cost of powering your car, truck or SUV has been dropping. “After a brief period of rising price in mid-October really as a result of issues surrounding Hurricane Matthew, Maryland’s prices appear to be on a steady downward trend,” says Christine Delise, AAA Mid-Atlantic spokeswoman.
The auto club says the price at the pump in the state currently stands at $2.22 per gallon, which is a 3-cent drop from last week, and 4-cent drop from a month ago. The $2.22 per gallon price is even with the national average, according to AAA.
“We typically see prices trend downward this time of year. Gas stations are now selling the winter blend, which is cheaper to produce,” says Delise. “And the demand for gas goes down as well. People aren’t taking as many road trips as they do in the warmer months.”
She says gasoline prices are expected to continue their decrease, but that could change if another hurricane forms in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane season ends on November 30th.
In addition, Delise says, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, could decide to reduce production during its meeting on December 30th. She says that would have an effect on prices, even though the US has been slowly weaning itself off of foreign oil. “We’ve had increased production in the US. But it seems with the downward trend in crude oil prices, production perhaps has been cut back a little bit,” says Delise.
The current price of crude oil as of Thursday’s close is $49.72 per barrel.
For those who want the lowest price when they fill up, AAA has a number of ways to help. One is Fuel Price Finder at AAA.com/fuel finder, which locates the lowest gasoline prices in your community There’s also AAA Gas Cost Calculator (Gas.Prices.AAA.com/AAA-gas-cost-calculator/) which helps you budget travel expenses. Another service is TripTik Mobile (AAA.com/mobile) which plots fuel prices for your travel route.
By Kevin McManus