Gasoline prices remained nearly flat in the last two weeks after a surge in the cost of crude oil slowed the decline of pump prices, an industry analyst said Sunday.
The weighted national average price for all three grades of gasoline dipped about a penny between June 25 and Friday — to $1.96 per gallon, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey. The survey polls nearly 8,000 gas stations across the United States.
Since May 21, that represents a drop of 14 cents, when the average price was pegged at slightly above $2.10 a gallon.
The biggest seller in the two-week period, self-serve regular, averaged $1.93 a gallon.
In a statement, Lundberg said a steady drop in pump prices leveled off after crude oil jumped about $2 a barrel during the two-week period, spurred by security concerns, Lundberg said.
However, with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries adding 500,000 barrels a day to its output in August — and U.S. refineries maximizing production and imports to meet traditional summer demand — pump prices should remain stable or fall further, Lundberg said.
The national weighted average price of a gallon of gasoline at self-serve pumps on Friday, including taxes, was about $2.03 for midgrade and $2.12 for premium, Lundberg said.
