COLUMBUS – Gas prices nearing the $3-a-gallon mark in central Ohio may start falling soon, thanks to a drop in oil prices.
That is the prediction from industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey, who says that gas prices have spiked 66 cents since early January.
According to her survey, retail gas prices have jumped 5 cents a gallon the last two weeks, but the price of crude oil has gone in the other direction.
“In this two-week period, crude oil prices slipped by the equivalent of about a nickel per gallon, so that slippage always would help the price come down,” she said.
The price of oil accounts for more than half of the retail price of gasoline, Lundberg said.
The average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline in Columbus has soared 25 cents over the same two-week stretch to $2.78 on Monday morning, according to a daily survey from the auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX, Inc.
President Donald Trump threatened to impose more tariffs on China, reviving tensions over trade that caused oil prices to sink further overnight. The price of benchmark U.S. crude shed 2.4 percent as investors who had been expecting good news this week on trade were spooked by the president’s tweets instead.
Lundberg says an end to maintenance – scheduled and unscheduled – at some key refineries will also pump up supply, helping prices to stabilize.