Here’s a rare bit of news. Gasoline prices in Iowa may soon be coming down, a bit. Crude oil and wholesale gas prices fell this week after it became clear Tropical Storm Alberto would not blow into a full-scale hurricane and disrupt Gulf Coast drilling operations.
Triple-A-Iowa spokeswoman Dawn Duffy says the drop wouldn’t likely be anything dramatic. Duffy says gas prices were propped up on the remote chance that Alberto would damage energy industry operations in the Gulf of Mexico, “but it didn’t and that is good news for gas prices.”
She says a variety of factors come into play that all influence what Iowans pay at the pump. She says the number-one factor in gas prices is the price of crude oil, which is averaging 69-dollars a barrel now but it needs to stay below 70-dollars for an extended period of time to see any dramatic shift in prices. Duffy says a possible drop in gas prices has to rely on a lot of “if’s,” unfortunately.
Duffy says we have to look at the world situations, “If crude oil can stay below 70-dollars a barrel, if the hurricane season is going to be a gentle season and if there is going to be no terrorism across the country or around the world on any pipeline.” Triple-A says the current statewide average for gasoline is two-77 a gallon, 13-cents below the national average. A month ago, Iowans were paying two-78. A year ago, it was two-oh-three.