After pushing solidly into $3.00-a-gallon and above range, the price of gas appears to level off.
And you’ll never guess why?
Just like the stock market, the price of gas is driven by fear.
Fear usually means the price of gas will go up.
But this time it’s trending down.
“We have been seeing a steady decline in the price of gasoline,” says Don Redman, spokesperson for the Triple-A.
“The big question is, ‘are we in for a collapse?’ and that’s because of COVID.”
The idea of another lockdown, presumably after the start of the New Year, is striking fear into the hearts of energy producers.
“The resurgence of the omicron variant has the global market nervous,” Redman explains.
Like the early days of the shutdown and sequester, gas prices across the world collapsed and there was so much unpurchased fuel gas prices dropped below a dollar for a day or two until producers could shut down production and bolster the price of gas.
“We’re looking at crude oil down to about $72.00-a-barrel. That’s down almost about $12.00 from where we were in October,” according to Redman. “We’re about ten cents cheaper from where we were just a few weeks ago.”
As for right now, Redman says “The market is definitely getting a little nervous. We have a good steady demand for it right now for the holidays, but as we go into 2022, the big concern is ‘will we see a contraction of the economy again and see prices drop dramatically?’”
For now: “We’re looking at a significant drop in price, with a statewide average of about $3.05-a-gallon.”
And getting cheaper for the time being…
