Gasoline Prices Continue Trending Downward Despite Sanctions Against Iran

AAA says inventories of crude oil have been growing.

 

Towson, Md (KM). Gasoline prices were expected to go up beginning on Monday, Nov. 5th following the imposition of sanctions by the United States against Iran. But AAA Mid-Atlantic says the opposite  is happening. “It seems in May, when the decision was announced that sanctions would take affect in November, the crude oil market reacted quickly with crude oil spiking as high as $77 per barrel this summer,”: says spokeswoman Christine Delise. “But at the same time, Iran’s exports began to dip over that time frame.”

Along with that, Delise says, crude oil inventories began to grow in the US. “For six consecutive weeks, we’ve seen steady growth, and that’s helped to check excessive increases in crude prices,”: she says..

As of Friday’s close of the trading session on the NYMEX, West Texas Crude dropped by  55-cents to $63.14 per barrel.

Right now, the average price at the pump in Maryland is $2.62 per gallon, a drop of six-cents from last week, In Frederick, it’s also $2.62 per gallon, a drop of seven-cents from the previous week.

Delise says we could be seeing gasoline prices continue their slide for the foreseeable future. “If the crude oil market stay stable, and we don’t see any upward shift in prices, gas prices should continue trending downward,” she says.

Motorists who want to find the lowest price gasoline in their communities can go on line  to AAA’s Fuel Price Finder at AAA.com/fuelfinder. When traveling, drivers can help budget their expenses by going to Fuel Cost Calculator at Fuel/Calculator.AAA.com. Trip tik Mobile at AAA.com/mobile plots fuel prices along your travel route.

 

By Kevin McManus