Gas Prices Drop For Third Straight Week

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - U.S. gasoline prices dropped for a third straight week and marked the first year-on-year decline since October 2009, the Energy Department said on Mo nday.

The national average price for U.S. regular gasoline fell to $3.87 a gallon in the week ended Monday, down more than 5 cents from the previous week, the Energy Information Administration said in its weekly survey of service stations.

Surging fuel prices have become a hot button on the campaign trail this election year, as Republicans sought to place blame on the White House.

But a drop in the cost of oil has stymied gasoline's climb toward $4 a gallon ahead of the summer driving season.

Gasoline fell nearly a penny from a year earlier. Prices have gone up and down on weekly terms since 2009, but the past week saw the first year-on-year decline over that period.

Sunoco said on Monday it would delay shuttering the largest refinery on the U.S. East Coast, easing fears of a fuel shortage in that region this summer. Sunoco is in talks with private equity firm Carlyle Group LP on a potential joint venture to run the plant.

The East Coast has been threatened with the loss of three refineries due to poor margins, raising concerns about a potential shortfall and helping to drive up prices.

Additional relief could come from a potential deal for Delta Air Lines to buy ConocoPhillips' refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania.

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Comments

[Kenz300]

11:53 AM on 05/27/2012

Biofuels can now be made from waste or trash. Every landfill can now be converted to produce biofuels, energy (methane) and raw materials (recycled) for new products.

Alternative energy sources combined with energy conservation and energy efficiency can transition the nation from oil imports.

[northern gent]

09:30 AM on 04/25/2012

I'd swap your prices for ours any day of the week. We are paying nearly £1.50 (about $2) per litre. roughly double what the US pays.

[items17070]

04:26 PM on 04/26/2012

irrelevant comparison!

[johmich5]

09:12 AM on 04/27/2012

That is a product of over regulation and a weak Pound.
Obama's goal to have European Priced gas in the US so that his alternative energy plan has viability.

[oldwolf49]

11:46 PM on 04/24/2012

Where do you guys get your information?? Gas just went up a dime in Indyapolis and that was after a 2 day drop of about a nickle. These kind of stories need to be stopped because reporting the "national average" is a joke, prices are manipulated across the board by region. A national average is nothing to make news over.

[MGLLC]

06:57 PM on 04/24/2012

Gas prices down a penny. Wow. Speculation makes up about 15% of the market, other nations like China, India and other emerging economies are willing to pay the prices, therefore, our price go up. Like Europe and canada, our useage has dropped, we are no longer the #1 consumer. As a result, prices are going up for us....and nothing we do, unless we start building things at home again, will change the fact they will go up, not down. We are quickly becoming a power of day before yesterday.

[Boobuzuela]

05:38 PM on 04/24/2012

So who should we blame for falling gas prices? Speculators? Obama? Or maybe the same thing that caused them to rise in the first place, decreasing world supply and increasing global demand.

BTW, is Fox News giving Obama credit for the falling prices the same way they blamed him for rising prices? And if not, WHY NOT?

[susanbsbi]

09:53 AM on 04/24/2012

The European countries are also, fighting the same problems we are having here. Economy woes, debt and unemployment. Also, the gas crisis. Now that the winter is over, the Norway rigs are producing more oil, which helps the economy. The prices of gas goes up when China demands more gas for their country. They have already bought are the tar sand oil that will be pumped from Canada through the USA.

[efell]

09:12 AM on 04/24/2012

How will the GOP try to spin FALLING gas prices? Stay tuned, inventive talking points to follow.

[RayHorsleyConsu]

08:52 AM on 04/24/2012

There is a double edged sword in this news. If oil prices are down it is most likely caused by the lack of demand on the world market. This means that the global economy is slowing down, which means a slower recovery. We are already seeing this in a slow down of the jobs market.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

03:20 AM on 04/24/2012

If a greater number of "Murkans" can somehow keep DEMAND weak, prices can fall....a bit....further. There really hasn't been a GREAT switch to more fuel-efficient cars; pickup trucks and SUVs continue to sell rather well......

Just for fun, it would be interesting to model what sort of DEMAND JOLT (fall in demand) it would take to abet a surge in margin calls from commodity brokers to clients with spot market positions.....!

[juliet marilynne]

01:40 AM on 04/24/2012

first, let me say straight up that i KNOW there has to be other factors in play here, but:

is it just me, or is more than just a coincidence that gas prices started to fall not long after they started talking about adding regulations on petroleum speculation?

price drops 3 weeks in a row, and it was about three weeks ago they started talking about those regulations.

just something to make you go 'hmmm...?' 8D

[Blackwing]

11:53 PM on 04/23/2012

So, the games continue. We are screwed as long as we let the Fossil Foolers control our energy supply.

[johmich5]

09:15 AM on 04/27/2012

We are screwed as long as we let the Fossil Foolers control our energy supply.
-------------
Screwed from Obama's anti-energy policy..

[Brian CK]

11:17 PM on 04/23/2012

Yay! Obama saved us! I'm still not voting for him regardless how hard the MSM tries to get me to.

[Blackwing]

11:51 PM on 04/23/2012

You're a real maverick, Sarah.

[ElectroRanger]

08:40 AM on 04/24/2012

I'm going to totally go rogue up in this piece, lamestream media don't own me! Fair and balanced mediaticians know that ALL media is wrong except for the ones that tell me that, REPRESENT!

[johmich5]

09:18 AM on 04/27/2012

Better then being a MSNBC bobble headed parrot.

[Boobuzuela]

10:54 PM on 04/23/2012

Damn those speculators!