Drivers are starting to see prices creep down at the pump, a trend expected to continue over Labor Day weekend and through the next several months across the country.
Reasons include Hurricane Ernesto getting downgraded to a weak tropical storm, peak driving season ending and sluggish demand generally, economists said. At least one predicted per-gallon prices for unleaded regular could drop to about $2.40 at the end of November.
“They’ll be around $2.50 or $2.40 or in that neighborhood by Thanksgiving,” said Fred Rozell, a gasoline analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.
After spiking at $3.06 per gallon in Colorado in the second and third weeks of August, the average price for unleaded gas in Colorado has dropped just below $3.
Lower gas prices could boost Colorado’s economy as people have a few more discretionary dollars to spend, said Tucker Adams, a Colorado economist.
“It’s not a major event, but certainly with retail sales slowing nationally, every little positive step helps,” Adams said.
Some Denver drivers say they have changed their habits.
“I’m looking for the cheap gas,” said Wendy Teller, 43, of Evergreen, as she filled her Jeep Cherokee with $2.89 unleaded at the Diamond Shamrock station on East Sixth Avenue and Speer Boulevard.
Aurora resident Wesley Makey, 49, a construction worker, said he makes all of his trips on a Kawasaki Voyager 12 motorcycle and leaves his Jeep Cherokee at home.
It costs $12 to fill up the motorcycle, and a tank usually lasts two weeks, Makey said. The Jeep’s gas tank took $62 worth of gas the last time he drove it, and the fuel lasted about a week.
Gas prices traditionally fall slightly through the winter months and rise again in the spring.
Global uncertainty, brought on by any flare-up of fighting between Israel and Lebanon or instability in Iraq and Iran, could push prices up again rapidly, said Steve Douglas, general manager of supply and marketing at Suncor refinery in Commerce City.
“The markets are so unpredictable, all it would take is for the cease-fire to break in the Middle East,” Douglas said.
Robert Berry, 32, a financial worker, said he is fed up with politics and tries to drive his car as little as possible.
“Normally, I take light rail or ride my bike,” Berry said. “There’s a shower in my office.”
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-954-1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
