Georgians can look forward to an extra holiday gift this year — more cheap gasoline prices.
Despite a recent surge in political unrest in the Middle East and stock market turmoil in China, some industry experts predict drivers will shell out less cash to fill up their tanks this year than last year, thanks to still-falling crude oil prices.
"Conservatively, we think we're going to be looking at gas prices that are slightly lower," with lower-than average prices during the peak driving season in the summer as well, said Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, an online firm that tracks retail gasoline prices.
Gasoline currently costs an average of $1.90 a gallon in Atlanta, about 15 percent lower than the year-ago average of $2.24 a gallon, Laskoski said.
Gas prices will likely start rising in a few months to a seasonal peak in the spring or summer, he added, but probably will remain lower than last year’s level for the same period.
Retail fuel prices typically rise about 40-70 cents per gallon in the late spring or early summer, Laskoski said, as refineries go offline for annual maintenance and switch from winter to summer fuel blends to meet Environmental Protection Agency rules.
For this pocketbook bounty, drivers can thank the global oversupply of crude oil. U.S. oil production surged in recent years with the rising use of hydraulic fracturing, also called “fracking,” and other technologies to boost oil wells’ output.
Since 2008, U.S. crude oil production has almost doubled, to roughly 10 million barrels per day, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Such oil-boosting techniques have been met with controversy. Critics say fracking has caused ground water and air pollution and contributed to dramatically increased rates of earthquakes in Oklahoma and some other oil-producing areas.
Meanwhile, according to EIA, crude oil prices have plunged more than 60 percent since mid-2014, from more than $103 per barrel to $36.83 Monday for the benchmark crude, West Texas Intermediate.
“There’s no getting away from having a global glut in crude oil production,” Laskowski said.
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