Source: (Photo: stefanamer/Getty Images)
STATEWIDE–Demand for gas has been dropping recently, so gas prices have been falling, but that trend could change.
With the exception of the West Coast, prices have seen a drop.
“The pressure for prices to raise in the wholesale market is off. Whole sale prices are falling pretty much every day in the country,” said Trilby Lundberg, oil and gas analyst with the Lundberg Survey.
In Indiana, GasBuddy says the statewide average is $3.83 per gallon. That’s about four cents lower than it was a week ago. It’s also lower from where it was one year ago ($3.90).
Lundberg says you need to keep your eye on the heat and any hurricanes or any tropical storms that hit the U.S. because those things can cause outages at refineries and drive the price of gas back up.
“Overall gas prices have gone up 32 cents over the last 6 weeks and more than 69 cents since the bottom out period back in December,” said Lundberg.
A recent trend, especially in the Midwest, has been that gas prices reach $4 per gallon, but then begin to drop, mostly due to price cycling.
Price cycling is where gas stations attempt to undercut each other on prices. GasBuddy says those cycles usually last one to three weeks. Gas stations will competitively drop prices until they cut out profits or even end up selling gasoline below cost.
