U.S. retail gasoline prices dropped below $2.20 a gallon for the first time in six weeks as lower crude oil costs were passed on to consumers at the pump, the government said Monday.
The national price for regular unleaded gasoline fell 4.9 cents over the past week to $2.19 a gallon, up 25 cents from a year ago, according to a weekly survey of service stations by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Gasoline prices have declined 9.4 cents since climbing to a record $2.28 a gallon four weeks ago.
The EIA said it expects pump prices to continue dropping through this month, after a big rise in U.S. oil inventories to the highest level in almost six years has pushed down the price for oil and, as a result, lowered gasoline costs.
The price of crude oil accounts for about half the cost of making gasoline.
The EIA said gasoline prices will still remain well above last summer’s level.
In its weekly survey, the West Coast had the most expensive regular unleaded gasoline, with the price down 3.6 cents to $2.48 a gallon. San Francisco was at the top of the EIA’s survey of cities, with the price of gasoline down 3.1 cents at $2.60 a gallon.
The Midwest states had the cheapest fuel, with the price down 8.1 cents at $2.08 per gallon. Among major cities, Cleveland had cheapest price at the pump, with fuel down 12.1 cents at $2.02 a gallon.
The EIA report also showed gasoline prices were down 5.5 cents at $2.52 in Los Angeles; down 1.2 cents at $2.46 in Seattle; down 1.9 cents at $2.31 in Miami; down 1.2 cents at $2.22 in New York City, down 5.9 cents at $2.21 in Chicago; down 1.7 cents at $2.18 in Boston and down 3 cents at $2.17 in Denver.
Separately, the price for diesel fuel fell 3.5 cents to $2.23 a gallon, up 48 cents from last year, the EIA said.
Truckers on the West Coast paid the most for diesel at $2.48 a gallon, down 4.9 cents from last week. The Midwest states had the cheapest diesel at $2.16 a gallon, down 3.7 cents.
