The price of hitting the road for summer vacations, trips to the beach and family barbecues is slowly but surely going down.
Since reaching a record high around Memorial Day weekend, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel in Washington state has fallen more than 11 cents a gallon, according to AAA’s statistics.
In the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area, the average price stood at $2.24 a gallon as of Monday, also down 11 cents from a record high on May 29. Around Snohomish County, prices range from just above $2 a gallon to $2.30 or above in outlying areas.
The decline in prices locally closely reflects what’s happening nationally. The nationwide average for unleaded fuel has fallen about a dime in recent weeks.
“It’s certainly helping,” said Steve Holtgeerts, president of Hogland Transfer Co., a short-haul trucking firm in Everett. “It’s nice to see the West Coast averages are dropping faster than the national average, so we’re gaining a little ground.”
Like many trucking companies, Hogland has charged customers a fuel surcharge since last year to help cover rising fuel costs. The surcharge exceeded 10 percent when diesel was selling for $2.30 a gallon a month ago, but has since been scaled back, Holtgeerts said.
According to the federal Energy Information Administration, the retail price of gasoline is now at its lowest level since May 3. The agency, part of the Energy Department, pegged the national average retail price of fuel just below $1.94 a gallon as of Monday.
The administration and industry analysts are predicting prices will continue to fall in coming weeks. That’s thanks in part to the decision by some OPEC countries to increase production and the resumption of oil exports from Iraq.
“The inventories have finally crawled back into the lower range of what’s considered normal for this time of year,” said Dave Overstreet, a regional spokesman for AAA.
The result is falling prices just ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend, when millions of Americans are expected to travel. So far, high prices haven’t curtailed demand for gasoline across the nation.
That continued strong demand means it won’t take much to interrupt the fall of gasoline prices. Any attack in the Middle East on oil facilities could have a big effect. Oil traders also are watching a strike by oil workers in Norway, the world’s third-largest oil exporter. Labor and political unrest also are bubbling in Venezuela and Nigeria, both significant oil exporters.
California media reports on Monday also indicated that Shell Oil will cut back processing at one of its refineries in that state due to maintenance. Shell may also cut back production at its Bakersfield, Calif., refinery this summer as its prepares to close that facility on Oct. 1.
Because of those potential problems, Guy Caruso, head of the Energy Information Administration, said he can only be “prudently optimistic” that prices will keep declining between now and fall. He told the U.S. Senate that “absent major disruptions, oil and gasoline markets may be turning a corner.”
In the long term, however, analysts with the Oil Price Information Service predict that prices could stay above $1.50 a gallon through fall and winter and then rise again next year.
Even after the significant drop in fuel prices during the past three weeks, the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett average recorded by AAA still remains 63 cents higher than it was a year ago.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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