Retail prices for gasoline in the U.S. were at their lowest level in three years, averaging $3.49 for calendar 2013, according to statistics released yesterday by the AAA.
Retail prices for gasoline in the U.S. were at their lowest level in three years, averaging $3.49 for calendar 2013, according to statistics released yesterday by the AAA. With the new year kicking off, the AAA expects gas prices to go down further in 2014.
On a down note, the AAA’s data revealed that the national average price of gas last night ($3.32 per gallon) marked an all-time high for New Year’s Eve gas prices. But for calendar 2013, gas prices were down about 3.1 percent year-over-year from the 2012 average of $3.60 per gallon. A total of 30 states had their annual average price at under $3.50 per gallon, with South Carolina having the cheapest gas prices on average ($3.24 per gallon) and nearby states Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas following behind.
Conversely, Hawaii’s gas prices ($4.24 per gallon) had the highest annual average, while Alaska, California and Connecticut were second, third and fourth respectively.
Going forward, the AAA believes gas prices will go down in 2014 as American refineries take on additional capacity and take advantage of the halcyon period of crude oil production in the U.S. Oil production has reached record high levels due to several variables, including new hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling procedures. These in turn have facilitated the easier retrieval of supplies from shale oil fields.
Despite this expected boom period for oil production and likely decrease in gas prices, the AAA believes any price decrease experienced may be infinitesimal, or, in spokesman Avery Ash’s words, so low “most drivers may not even notice.”