Americans could save between $50 billion and $75 billion on gasoline next year if prices remain low, according to the AAA motor club.
That would more than triple the $14 billion motorists saved this year compared with 2013, the group said.
“Next year promises to provide much bigger savings to consumers as long as crude oil remains relatively cheap,” said spokesman Avery Ash.
Pump prices have plummeted as oil has dropped from above $100 per barrel in June to around $60 in recent weeks. The decline reflects lagging global demand and a supply glut from U.S. shale oil producers and continued output from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
AAA noted that low prices may benefit U.S. consumers in the near term, but it could slash production in shale energy regions that have led the domestic oil boom. That’s because hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, costs more than drilling conventional oil wells common around the rest of the world.
Those variables make it difficult to predict with certainty how much U.S. consumers stand to benefit.
“[L]ower prices could disrupt U.S. oil production by reducing profits, or it could increase instability in other oil-producing countries. In addition, it is possible that the global economy could grow more strongly than expected, which would increase petroleum demand. These factors make it difficult to forecast both crude oil and gasoline prices for 2015,” Ash said.
