Gas prices drop, expected to level off for the Summer

Summer’s here and it looks like gas prices are going to be a little lower than this spring. Iowa Department of Natural Resources energy analyst Tami Foster says the average price of a gallon of gas in the state dropped 10 cents in the month since the last survey. Foster says the average price was one-dollar and 86-cents a gallon, and she says it could drop some more.She says it could drop into the dollar-60 range, as she says some areas of the state have seen it drop that low. She says prices range from a dollar-60 cents all the way up to two dollars a gallon. Foster says prices will likely settle in around one-dollar and 70 cents a gallon. She says there’s probably not much chance of getting as low as we were last summer. She says that would be wishful thinking, as we were in the dollar-40’s last summer. She says the continued threats in Iraq and Saudi Arabia are keeping uncertainty in the market. Foster says the higher prices haven’t stopped people from gassing up and taking off. She says we haven’t seen a decrease in demand nationwide, and here in Iowa the most recent data indicate the same thing — that people are driving as much as they normally do. While motorists aren’t buying less gas, Foster says they have been taking advantage of the tax breaks that make ethanol-blended gas one to four cents cheaper. She says ethanol did hit a record share of the market in March and it typically holds 67 to 68-percent of the marker. Diesel fuel dropped three cents a gallon to an average of one-dollar and 72-cents a gallon.