The average price of gasoline could drop near $2 per gallon in December, even as crude oil production continues to slow, federal analysts reported Tuesday.
The Energy Information Administration, the Department of Energy’s independent analysis arm, reported in its Short-Term Energy Outlook that the monthly average of gas is projected to drop to $2.06 in December.
Gas prices have been dropping steadily this fall, as the average price of gasoline in the U.S. was $2.29 in October, down 8 cents per gallon from September. During the same period, U.S. production of crude oil dropped 40,000 barrels per day.
“U.S. gasoline demand this year is on track to be the highest since record levels were set in 2007, due in large part to low pump prices and more people working,” said Adam Sieminski, administrator of the Energy Information Administration.
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The analysts project the average price in 2016 to be about $2.33 per gallon as crude oil production is expected to drop through most of the year.
Growth in domestic oil production is not expected to resume until late 2016. It is projected the U.S. will produce 9.3 million barrels per day of crude oil in 2015 and 8.8 million barrels of crude per day in 2016.
Sieminski said the drop in production in 2016 would be the first time oil production has dropped in non-OPEC countries since 2008.
