Could Gas Prices Fall Below $1?

By Marc Torrence

As gas prices continued to plummet Tuesday, experts predicted that the cost of a gallon of regular unleaded could eventually fall below a dollar in some places before everything is said and done.

Prices have dipped to about $1.82 per gallon in Massachusetts and to nearly $1.70 nationwide, GasBuddy Senior Petroleum Analyst Gregg Laskoski told Patch.

Average prices by county as of 5:50 p.m. Tuesday, courtesy of GasBuddy.

• Suffolk: $1.94

• Essex: $1.85

• Middlesex: $1.88

• Worcester: $1.78

• Norfolk: $1.83

• Plymouth: $1.78

• Bristol: $1.79

• Barnstable: $1.90

• Dukes: $2.90

• Nantucket: $2.96

Several factors are at work.

Companies are currently trying to run through “huge” supplies of winter-blend gasoline, Laskoski said, which will be swapped out for a more fuel-efficient, but more expensive, blend in the summer months, as mandated by the EPA.

As they try to sell off the stockpiles before the winter months end, the price goes down, Laskoski said.

In Great Lakes states like Michigan and Wisconsin, a small handful of retail gas chains dominate the area, pushing gas prices down even further.

“It’s a retail environment that the federal government refers to as ‘price cycling,’” Laskoski told Patch.

“It’s typically where a small number of dominant retail chains will push prices as low as they can go, sometimes even to the point where they’re taking a loss on the gas, simply to drive traffic into those convenience stores.”

Meanwhile, the West Texas Intermediate, a U.S. benchmark for crude oil, was down more than 4 percent Tuesday, continuing a downward trend over the last 365 days.

It all adds up to gas prices that continue to fall and could reach below a dollar in some places, Laskoski said.

When will the decline in prices end? Analysts say it’s hard to tell (and if they did know, they’d be heading to their nearest lottery retailer and stock broker, too).

Laskoski said it isn’t unreasonable to think that the national average could drop anywhere from 5 to 10 more cents per gallon before winter reserves run out, the price of oil levels out and gas prices start to increase again.

“We know prices will hit a plateau, but sometimes you won’t know it’s a plateau until it’s in the rearview mirror,” he said. “There’s a lot of moving parts.”

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