--- title: 'Gas Prices Will Soon Drop Below $3 a Gallon: Government Forecast' description: A new government forecast shows gas prices dipping well below $3 per gallon in 2022. authors: - name: Adam Hardy role: Lead Data Reporter url: https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/ bio: Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. Adam’s work has also appeared in Business Insider, Forbes, Nasdaq, The Penny Hoarder, Yahoo! Finance and more than a dozen local and regional newspapers. education: University of South Florida, BA, Magazine Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 497 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - The Penny Hoarder - Forbes Advisor - Creative Loafing - The New York Times - The Washington Post - Bloomberg - Harvard Law School - The Federal Register - National Consumer Law Center - CBS News - Becker's Hospital Review - Business Insider - Mother Jones - The Week - Fortune - The Philadelphia Inquirer - National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NAFSAA) - Education Advisory Board (EAB) - The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) - This Morning with Gordon Deal - Empower - Reddit social: - https://www.x.com/hardyjournalism - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardyjournalism/ published: '2021-12-08T18:37:43.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T17:02:43.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Gas - Gas prices - News word_count: 354 canonical: https://money.com/gas-prices-forecast-decrease-2022/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo close up of a person pumping gas into car](https://img.money.com/2021/12/News-Gas-prices-will-soon-drop.jpg) Relief is finally on the way for drivers who are sick of rising gas prices. This year's surge in prices at the pump appears to have finally come to an end, and a new government report predicts that gas prices will dip well below $3 in the new year. The U.S. Energy Information Administration published its [short-term energy outlook](https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/) Tuesday, forecasting that prices will first fall to $3.01 nationally next month before averaging out to $2.88 per gallon throughout the rest of 2022. According to the automotive group [AAA](https://gasprices.aaa.com/), gas prices are already on their way down. The nationwide average price for a gallon of regular gasoline today is now $3.34, down 8 cents from a month ago. “Consumers may be catching a break at the pump right now, but it’s not for a very good reason,” AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross said in a [statement Monday](https://newsroom.aaa.com/2021/12/gas-prices-retreat-on-fears-of-covid-19-resurgence/), citing coronavirus-related economic complications in the oil industry. Still, AAA data show gas prices today are $1.18 higher than they were at this time last year, when demand was down due to travel restrictions aimed at curbing the then-rapidly-spreading coronavirus. The EIA attributes the coming free fall in gas prices to major shifts in the crude-oil market. The price of oil dropped more than $11 in early December from its average of $81 per barrel in November, the agency noted. The EIA expects crude oil prices to average $70 per barrel throughout 2022. As *Money* reported last week [amid tumbling oil prices](https://money.com/gas-prices-decrease-oil-omicron/), when crude oil gets cheaper, gas prices follow. That’s because as much as 56% of the price consumers pay at the pump goes toward the wholesale cost of crude oil, according to the EIA. “This is a very complicated environment for the entire energy sector,” said Steve Nalley, acting EIA administrator, in an announcement of the energy outlook report. But for consumers who’ve been grappling with record-setting inflation, it’s a welcomed moment of reprieve. [Why Are Gas Prices So High in 2021?](https://money.com/why-are-gas-prices-high-2021/) [How the Omicron Variant Could Impact Your Investments](https://money.com/omicron-variant-investments/) [Best Money Moves for December 2021](https://money.com/best-money-moves-december-2021/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-forecast-decrease-2022/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Gas Prices", "item": "https://money.com/gas-prices/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Gas Prices Will Soon Drop Below $3 a Gallon: Government Forecast" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-forecast-decrease-2022/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/gas-prices-forecast-decrease-2022/", "name": "Gas Prices Will Soon Drop Below $3 a Gallon: Government Forecast", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2021-12-08T18:37:43.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-forecast-decrease-2022/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-forecast-decrease-2022/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T17:02:43.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Gas Prices Will Soon Drop Below $3 a Gallon: Government Forecast", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2021/12/News-Gas-prices-will-soon-drop.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Gas prices will soon drop" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Hardy", "url": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/adam-hardy/#author", "description": "Adam Hardy is a lead data journalist at Money, where he frequently reports on financial barriers that affect low-income Americans. 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