Photo: EIAThe recent decline in gasoline prices may actually accelerate in August, according to AAA. That’s got to come as good news to landscapers as they enter the last leg of the growing season – a time when gas prices typically are buoyed by summertime travel.
Earlier this week, AAA reported that the average price for a gallon of regular, $2.66, is the lowest it has been at this time of year since 2009. “It feels good to see gas prices drop during the middle of the busy summer driving season,” said Avery Ash, AAA spokesman.
Today’s average gas prices are about 85 cents a gallon less than a year ago. The national average has dropped about 14 cents per gallon since hitting a 2015 high of $2.80 on June 15.
AAA says cheaper crude prices and the resolution of problems at some U.S. refineries are driving the rate of decline in retail gasoline prices.
Those refineries, meanwhile, are going strong, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy.
“Gross inputs to U.S. refineries exceeded 17 million barrels per day in each of the past four weeks, a level not previously reached since EIA began publishing weekly data in 1990,” the agency says. “The rolling four-week average of U.S. gross refinery inputs has been above the previous five-year range (2010-14) every week so far this year.”
