Iowa’s average price for a gallon of gas has been under the three-dollar-a-gallon mark for a couple of weeks — but the national average price just fell below that mark for the first time in 47 days. Iowa Department of Natural Resources energy analyst, Brian Crowe, says Iowa uncharacteristically led the nation in gas price average for a time in May before dropping below the three-dollar line.
Crowe says a lot of refineries weren’t putting out a "standard level of product" as the summer driving season started. The prices started coming back down as more gas entered the market. Crowe says the average price of a gallon of 10 percent ethanol-blended gasoline was $2.92 in the latest survey. That’s down 7.9 percent from the average price in the May survey of $3.17 per gallon.
Crowe says gas prices will probably level off a little now. Crowe says the summer demand will likely keep the prices from going very low. But, he expects prices to drop to the "middle two dollar range" toward the end of summer. The survey found the average price for diesel fuel in Iowa at $2.82 per gallon, three cents lower than May. Crowe says although diesel fuel traditionally costs 40 cents more a gallon than gasoline, diesel fuel continues to drop in price and sell for 10-cents less than gasoline in Iowa.