--- title: Why Gas Prices Could Soon Plunge description: AAA says roughly 80% of gas stations in the U.S. are selling regular gas for less than $5 a gallon — and more discounts could be coming. authors: - name: Sarah Hansen role: Senior Writer url: https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/ bio: Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. Previously, she covered economic policy and capital markets on the breaking news desk at Forbes. education: Northwestern University, New York University at_money_since: 2021 articles: 347 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-m-hansen/ former_staff: true published: '2022-07-06T18:41:25.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:17:43.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - Gas prices - News word_count: 553 canonical: https://money.com/gas-prices-plunge-soon/ 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/). ![News-Gas-Prices-Could-Plunge](https://img.money.com/2022/07/News-Gas-Prices-Could-Plunge.jpg) Planning a summer road trip? Soon, it might get a little cheaper. Drivers are finally experiencing some relief at the pump thanks to falling gas prices, and even more price cuts could be on the way. On average, a gallon of regular gas now costs $4.78, according to auto club AAA. That’s down from $4.87 a week ago. Roughly 80% of gas stations in the United States are selling regular gas for less than $5 per gallon. Gasoline prices are declining now because they're closely tied to the price of crude oil. Cheaper crude oil usually translates into cheaper gas, though these price changes often take several weeks to trickle down to stations. The price of U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil, which many investors use as a benchmark, has been steadily falling for a while. It dipped below the $100-per-barrel threshold for the first time since May this week. (Prices spiked about $120 per barrel in March as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and reduced capacity at U.S. oil refineries.) Supply and demand is also at play, as AAA noted in a [blog post](https://gasprices.aaa.com/decreasing-gas-demand-and-oil-prices-push-pump-prices-lower/) last week. Demand from drivers has fallen as costs have soared — and, at the same time, the nation’s supply of gasoline has grown. All of that's resulting in lower prices. Some state and local governments have stepped in, too, [suspending their gas taxes](https://money.com/states-pause-gas-taxes/) to ease the pain for drivers. At the national level, President Joe Biden has advocated for a [federal gas tax holiday](https://money.com/federal-gas-tax-holiday-save-money/), though the savings would be minor for most drivers. ## Will gas keep getting cheaper? Some analysts are predicting that oil prices could continue to plummet, which would mean pump prices would decline, as well. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, [predicted](https://twitter.com/GasBuddyGuy/status/1544388174453116963) Tuesday that drivers could expect to see prices drop between 40 and 65 cents per gallon over the coming weeks if the losses in the oil market continue. What those losses will look like is unclear, though analysts from Citi have [suggested](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ_U6nSGY_w) that the price of crude oil could fall to $65 by the end of the year. That's a pretty huge decrease from the peak in March — and a scenario that's becoming increasingly likely "as the potential for a recession is growing," Ed Morse, Citi’s managing director and global head of commodity research, told CNBC Tuesday. But experts are not in agreement about whether a [recession](https://money.com/are-we-in-a-recession/) is inevitable, so there’s no guarantee that gas prices will keep going down. De Haan said in a [blog post](https://www.gasbuddy.com/go/gas-prices-see-double-digit-drop-could-extend-streak-to-fourth-week) that the trend "could fade soon if oil prices reverse.” At a recent news conference, Biden wasn't optimistic, either, warning that the U.S. may have to contend with high prices for as "long as it takes" to prevent Russia from defeating Ukraine. That's on top of the fact that Americans are now gearing up for summer vacations... which could also push prices back up. “July is typically the heaviest month for demand as more Americans hit the road," AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross [said](https://gasprices.aaa.com/will-gas-demand-keep-falling-or-is-there-a-u-turn-ahead/) in his own post, adding: "So this trend of easing prices could be short-lived." ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-plunge-soon/#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": "Why Gas Prices Could Soon Plunge" } ] }, { "@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-plunge-soon/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/gas-prices-plunge-soon/", "name": "Why Gas Prices Could Soon Plunge", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2022-07-06T18:41:25.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-plunge-soon/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/gas-prices-plunge-soon/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:17:43.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Why Gas Prices Could Soon Plunge", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2022/07/News-Gas-Prices-Could-Plunge.jpg", "width": 1975, "height": 1317, "caption": "News-Gas-Prices-Could-Plunge" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sarah Hansen", "url": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/sarah-hansen/#author", "description": "Sarah Hansen is a senior writer at Money covering all things personal finance. 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