U.S. gas prices continue drop in wake of Brexit vote

ALBANY — The impact of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union has stock markets sharply declining, but another ripple effect has been increased pressure for decreasing prices at gas pumps here despite heavy demand.

Pump prices have been moving downward since June 11, and the aftershocks of Brexit is reinforcing that market trend, spokesmen for two organizations that monitor retail gas prices in the United States say.

“Gas prices were already falling before the ‘Brexit’ vote, but reductions in the price of oil should allow that trend to continue,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA — The Auto Club Group. “Increased gasoline demand is currently being offset by healthy refinery production, and gas prices are expected to remain at their lowest point for this time of year since 2005.”

Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, also sees the British decision to leave the EU as a factor in pump prices in the U.S.

“(I)f there was any doubt about the direction of retail gasoline, Brexit’s impact — strengthening the U.S. dollar, weakening European currencies and weakening global crude oil prices — is expected to add even more downward pressure to summer gas prices despite record-setting demand (9.81 million barrels per day for the week ending June 17).”

On Monday, GasBuddy had the national average at $2.304, down 3.3 cents in a week and 2.2. cents lower than last month. Year-to-year, prices were 48.1 cents lower on GasBuddy’s survey. AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report pegged the U.S. average at $2.307, down 2.5 cents in a week and 1.2 cents in a month. According to its survey, the year-to-year savings is 47.2 cents a gallon.

Georgia’s average Monday on GasBuddy’s survey was $2.169, down 3.7 cents in a week and 9.5 cents from last month. State drivers were saving 50.6 cents compared to what they were spending last year. AAA’s survey had the state average slightly higher Monday at $2.174, down 3.6 cents in a week and 8.7 cents from last month. The year-to-year savings, according to AAA, was averaging 49.3 cents in Georgia.

The Daily Fuel Gauge Report breakdown for averages in Georgia’s eight largest metro areas had Albany tied for the state’s cheapest with an average of $2.069. Observed prices were as low as $1.979 at some stations in East Albany. The week-to-week decline was 6.2 cents, and the price was 12.1 cents below what metro Albany motorists were paying last month, according to the AAA survey. Compared to 2015, Albany drivers were saving an average of 38.8 cents per gallon.

Metro Valdosta was also at $2.069, while metro Atlanta edged metro Columbus by a tenth of a cent to come in with the state’s highest average, $2.206, on the Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

Jenkins said the post-Brexit dip in crude prices reduces the chance of a retail gas rebound in the near term, with Laskoski saying it brings a “greater likelihood that prices for the Fourth of July weekend will be even lower than where they now stand.”

That travel weekend, which starts Thursday, is expected to eclipse Memorial Day weekend in volume, with AAA projecting that 43 million Americans will travel over the period that ends at midnight Independence Day. About 36 million are expected to drive to their destinations.

One factor that can have an immediate short-term effect in the other direction would be a tropical storm that affected the refinery area of the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, however, reported a quiet Atlantic region Monday and said no tropical cyclone activity was expected over the next five days.