Or maybe not?
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-02-16-gas-prices-usat_x.htm
Gasoline falls below $2 in some spots
By James R. Healey, USA TODAY[/align]Gasoline prices have slipped lower than $2 in a few places in a harbinger of lower prices nationwide. [/align]The nationwide average has dropped to $2.269, down half a penny overnight, travel organization AAA said Thursday. Scattered stations already have posted prices starting with "1" rather than "2." Users of a fuel-price website Thursday reported $1.96 gasoline near Minneapolis, for instance.
Averages in a number of metropolitan areas are likely to fall to less than $2, perhaps as soon as today. Corpus Christi, Texas, averaged $2.006, and several other metro areas were just a few cents more.
Fuel prices fall
Metro areas where the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was under $2.100 Thursday:
Corpus Christi, Texas
[align=center]$2.006[/align]
Wichita
[align=center]$2.032[/align]
Louisville
[align=center]$2.040[/align]
Lexington, Ky.
[align=center]$2.071[/align]
Owensboro, Ky.
[align=center]$2.073[/align]
Casper, Wyo.
[align=center]$2.096[/align]
Salem, Ore.
[align=center]$2.098[/align]
Portland, Ore.
[align=center]$2.099[/align]
Source: AAA fuel gauge report
"We are seeing a smattering of sub-$2 prices surfacing like premature crocuses across the country, and we may see a flirtation with $2 or less in a broad swath of the country this month," says Tom Kloza, analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. He warns it won't last, and prices will rebound this spring.
Last time the U.S. average was less than $2 was March 7, when the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported $1.999. Hurricane-related shortages pushed the average to a peak $3.069 Sept. 5. Lowest since: $2.147 on Dec. 5.
Petroleum traders, who control the price of oil from which gasoline is made, have been swayed more by healthy supplies than by unrest in oil countries, so oil prices have drifted down, and gasoline has followed.
The EIA says the U.S. has 325.6 million barrels of oil in stock, "well above the upper end of the average range" and the highest since June 24. That excludes oil kept for emergencies in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Gasoline inventories also are above average.
Motorists can expect "a further decline in retail prices for the next couple of weeks" until gas prices at the pump fully reflect the drop in oil prices, EIA says.
Lower gasoline prices make it more difficult for ethanol-based fuel to compete. The wholesale price of ethanol is $2.50 a gallon, well above the $1.38 wholesale price for gasoline.
President Bush and Detroit automakers are pushing ethanol-based E85 fuel as an alternative to gasoline that would reduce the need for imported oil. E85 is 85% ethanol "” ethyl alcohol usually made from Midwest corn "” and 15% gasoline. The high price of ethanol results in wholesale prices for E85 that are more than the retail prices for straight gasoline.
E85 has only 72% of the energy value of gasoline, the Energy Department says. If E85 is priced higher than 72% of gasoline's price "” which it is most places "” motorists are paying more to go the same distance.
Ethanol prices "” twice what they were last spring "” are zooming because refiners are buying it to replace an additive called MTBE that they've been using to boost octane and meet anti-pollution regulations. MTBE is a suspected carcinogen
Big oil is gouging again
