The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the latest gas price survey shows the average price of a gallon of gas is five cents higher than the last survey. But DNR energy analyst, Brian Crowe, says prices have begun to fall. He say some of the refineries that were down this summer are back in production and that has increased the supply of gas, while the summer demand is going down, so prices are dropping.
The average price of a gallon of ethanal-blended gas was two dollars and 80 cents in the latest DNR survey — compared to $2.75 a gallon in August. That’s also 54 cents more a gallon than for the same survey one year ago. Crude oil prices hit record highs this week, but Crowe says the oil price should drop back down, and gas prices may follow.
Crowe says last year at this time gas prices were down to about two dollars and 10 cents per gallon, and while he can’t say they will happen again, looking a prior years is often an indicator of what might happen.
Council Bluffs had the lowest price in the latest DNR survey at $2.59 a gallon.