Motorists will see a bit of a break in gas prices over the coming days.
GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan says a drop in crude oil prices is affecting the normal price cycling seen across Indiana. “Usually, gas prices spike every couple of weeks, and when they’re not spiking, they’re plunging,” he explains. “And that’s what we’ve seen in the last week. We’ve been able to escape the week without any sort of increase. Average prices in the State of Indiana are down close to 10 cents per gallon, falling to $2.15 a gallon, thanks to oil prices paving the way for more decreases.”
He says that crude oil prices began dropping last Wednesday. Now, they’re under $50 a barrel, which is about 10 percent lower than where they were last week.
DeHaan says the decrease in crude oil prices may lead to less severe seasonal price increases at the pump. “Usually, we see a seasonal increase between February and Memorial Day of anywhere from 60 to 90 cents a gallon, but for now that will be on hold,” he says. “I do suspect that in the weeks ahead, we will eventually start to see gas prices marching higher, but a bit of a break here over the next week is likely.”
He says that for the very short term, prices may keep going down, before the usual seasonal increases finally take hold.
