In the muddled, murky world of gasoline pricing, there's a drop of good news: After a big run-up, gas prices are falling.
Just one week after gas in Atlanta topped the $4-a-gallon mark, the average price for regular has dropped about seven cents to $3.93, according to AAA.
Prices should continue to drop, by as much as 50 cents a gallon during the summer, said Fred Rozell, director of pricing for New Jersey-based Oil Price Information Service.
A number of factors are at work: People are using less fuel; crude prices have come down, and supply fears, driven by unrest across the Middle East, have subsided -- for now.
Phil Embry, a gas tax consultant with the Georgia Oilmen's Association, believes the fluctuations are in part an effort to acclimate drivers to higher prices to come.
"It's kind of like training the market to get used to $4-a-gallon," he said.
Adds Jessica Brady, spokeswoman for the AAA Auto Club South: "We’re probably not going to see the $2 mark for quite awhile, if we ever see it again."
If all the up-and-down seems confusing, that's because it is. Your pump price is an ever-shifting reflection of world demand, geopolitical events, weather and other factors -- what Rozell calls "voodoo petronomics."
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