--- title: Drivers Are Paying Less Than $2 Per Gallon for Gas in More States description: Even as oil prices inch up slightly, gas prices for drivers remain low and are expected to keep on decreasing in the fall and winter of 2016. authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2016-09-12T20:38:17.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T11:39:52.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - Autos - Gas - Gas prices - Oil - Oil prices - pubdesk word_count: 322 canonical: https://money.com/gas-prices-oil-2-a-gallon/ type: Article 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/). ![Gasoline Stations As Fuel Price Drops to Three-Year Low on Outlook for Balmy Christmas](https://img.money.com/2016/09/gasprices-em-500982724.jpg) *Gas prices are expected to keep falling like they did last autumn, when drivers in much of the country paid under $2 per gallon.* In 2008, a barrel of oil was selling for around [$140 wholesale](http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/27/markets/oil/). That translated to gas prices of well over $4 per gallon for much of the country. Today, even as prices inched up on Monday, oil is selling for [under $50 per barrel](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKCN11H0T8?il=0). Because of the [abundant global supply](http://www.wsj.com/articles/opec-says-non-opec-output-stronger-than-expected-1473677102), oil prices—and, consequently, prices paid by drivers for fillups at gas stations—are expected to keep decreasing from their already-low levels. This week's [report from AAA](http://gasprices.aaa.com/switch-winter-blend-gasoline-means-cheaper-prices-pump/) notes that the national average for gas prices has declined in 11 out of the last 12 days, reaching $2.18 on Monday. That's 18¢ cheaper than a year ago at this time, though it's 5¢ higher than the national average one month ago and nearly 50¢ higher than the 2016 low of about $1.70 in February. (Back then, by the way, the price of a barrel of oil plummeted [below $30](http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/29/investing/oil-prices-surge-opec/).) While gas prices rose in the spring and summer, forecasts have called on prices to retreat below $2 for drivers in most states in late summer and autumn, thanks to a combination of ample supply of oil, diminishing demand for gas now that peak vacation season is over, and the switch to [cheaper winter blend gasoline](https://money.com/gas-prices-cheaper-fall-decline/). And right now, the forecasts appear to be holding up. [GasBuddy](https://blog.gasbuddy.com/posts/Gasoline-prices-generally-move-lower-Great-Lakes-may-see-hike/1715-653811-3839.aspx) reported on Monday that there are now nine states where the average price for a gallon of regular is below $2, compared to just four states last week that were under that mark. (They are: South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, New Jersey, Louisiana, Tennessee, Virginia, and Oklahoma.) ***Read Next:* Why the Lamest Car on the Road Has Become a Hot Seller** What's more, within a month or so, analysts think that barring any unforeseen incidents the majority of states will have average gas prices below $2. And even when with high-price outliers like Hawaii and California are factored in, the national average should be under $2 by about Halloween. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-oil-2-a-gallon/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Budgeting", "item": "https://money.com/budgeting/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Drivers Are Paying Less Than $2 Per Gallon for Gas in More States" } ] }, { "@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-oil-2-a-gallon/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/gas-prices-oil-2-a-gallon/", "name": "Drivers Are Paying Less Than $2 Per Gallon for Gas in More States", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-09-12T20:38:17.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-oil-2-a-gallon/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-oil-2-a-gallon/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T11:39:52.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Drivers Are Paying Less Than $2 Per Gallon for Gas in More States", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/09/gasprices-em-500982724.jpg", "width": 4000, "height": 2667, "caption": "Gasoline Stations As Fuel Price Drops to Three-Year Low on Outlook for Balmy Christmas" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-09-12T20:38:17.000Z", "description": "Even as oil prices inch up slightly, gas prices for drivers remain low and are expected to keep on decreasing in the fall and winter of 2016.", "abstract": "Even as oil prices inch up slightly, gas prices for drivers remain low and are expected to keep on decreasing in the fall and winter of 2016.", "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-oil-2-a-gallon/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-05-16T11:39:52.000Z", "wordCount": 322, "keywords": [ "Autos", "Gas", "Gas prices", "Oil", "Oil prices", "pubdesk" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Personal finance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_finance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Budget", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget" ] } ] } ] } ```