COLUMBUS – How does gas at 99 cents a gallon sound? Some analysts say it could be a reality in central Ohio soon.
Wholesale gas prices have plunged in the face of a ballooning worldwide supply and analysts at the price-watching website GasBuddy.com say those wholesale price drops have not been reflected in retail prices yet.
Ohio and eight other states in the Great Lakes and the nation’s midsection are currently seeing their lowest average gasoline prices since early 2004, GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst Patrick DeHaan writes in his regular blog.
“Wholesale gasoline prices in the Midwest have lost more than half of their value since the beginning of the year and prices at the pump haven’t fully reflected that yet,” he said. “We wouldn’t be shocked to see a few stations in these states as low as 99 cents a gallon.”
According to a daily survey of prices in central Ohio by the auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX, Inc., the average retail price Wednesday morning was $1.42, 43 cents lower than a month ago. The statewide average price was $1.46
DeHaan says oil refiners are offering low wholesale prices to clear out their inventory of winter-blend gasoline before switching to production of cleaner-burning, and more expensive, summer-blend fuel.