Gas Prices Dropping: National Average Falls Lowest In Seven Years

Oil prices are dropping around the world thanks to a horrible start to the market in 2016, but it comes with a bit of good fortune as well. Gas prices are falling around the country and Americans are benefiting from the low costs at the pumps. For the first time in seven years, the national average price for a gallon of gas is less than $2.

Business Insider reports that the last time there was a national average below $2 from the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) was back in March of 2009. It was March 23, 2009, to be exact, and as of now, the mark has hit $1.996 a gallon.

Many places are falling far below that and in numerous locations, people are shocked at the low cost of gas. Even tourist locations such as Walt Disney World are seeing the benefit of low oil prices as gas stations on property currently have gas at $1.79 per gallon.

According to the latest report from the EIA, the West Coast is the only region of the United States that still has an average above $2. As of Jan. 14, the average was still at $2.63 a gallon, but that is to be expected for that area of the country.

“Gasoline prices on the West Coast tend to be higher than elsewhere in the country because of the region’s relative isolation from other gasoline markets and higher state taxes. Additionally, gasoline supply chains on the West Coast are adjusting to several refinery outages that occurred in 2015, which tightened gasoline supplies and increased prices.”

As of Jan. 16, 2016, the different regions of the United States don’t see a huge variance, except of course for the West Coast. All regions except the West Coast have seen drops below $2, and for now, there doesn’t appear to be anything showing that will change anytime soon.

Places like San Diego, California, were happy that gas prices have dropped as much as they have even though it’s known they will always be higher than the rest of the nation. Fox 5 reports that the average price of a self-serve regular gasoline gallon in San Diego County dropped to $2.954 on Friday.

It was the ninth consecutive day it had dropped.

Many Americans feel this is simply the calm before the storm and that gas prices are going to shoot back up again before too long. Actually, it’s just the opposite and things aren’t looking that bad for the entire year.

Due to the fact that it takes a good bit of time to refine oil, crude-oil prices are usually on a delay. That means gas prices won’t really shoot up all of a sudden.

It is expected that the current gas prices below $2 will be around for a while and will eventually bottom out sometime in February. From that point, they could sit very low for a bit and then begin to rise, but not a lot.

The expectation is that the national average price for a gallon of gas for all of 2016 will be just $2.03.

That little bit of news should make a lot of Americans happy, especially those that are afraid to fly or simply don’t have the budget to do so. As summer vacations come around, it won’t be nearly as pricey to travel long distances in your own vehicle.

Gas prices are indeed falling all across the country even though they’ve already fallen quite a bit. The national average being below $2 for the first time in seven years is something to be happy about, and it’s good to know that they won’t be going up too much anytime soon.

[Image by Eddie Seal/Bloomberg via Getty Images]