For the first time in more than two months, average gas prices in Denver and Colorado fell, according to weekly report.
The drop, however, was slight and prices here are still above the national average.
Prices in the Denver metro area declined 0.4 cents on average to $2.77 per gallon. Colorado’s statewide average fell 0.7 cents to $2.80, according to the fuel price information site.
Nationally, average prices fell 5.5 cents per gallon to $2.65 per gallon.
During the past month, prices in Denver and Colorado have increased 12.7 cents and 13 cents per gallon, respectively. Fueling the inclines was a crimp in supply caused by at a Borger, Texas, plant.
As of Monday, those refinery issues had yet to be resolved, said Will Speer, a Texas-based GasBuddy analyst.
“Prices have stabilized for the moment as the market has priced in the Borger issue,” Speer said in an email to The Denver Post. “Unless more issues with Borger occur, no sharp increases are expected. However, motorists can’t expect much savings either as the refinery limps along.”
Colorado, like 46 others that also reported declining prices, benefited from a sharp drop in the price of crude oil, GasBuddy analysts said.
“A barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil has lost some $10 in value since early June at the hands of economic concerns in China and the prospects of Iranian crude adding to the global glut of oil as demand begins to fall ahead of the cooler months,” Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst, said in a statement.
Those declines are expected to continue, accelerating after Labor Day.
GasBuddy analysts are projecting that as many as 20 states could see sub $2-per-gallon prices before Christmas.
Alicia Wallace: 303-954-1939, awallace@denverpost.com or twitter.com/aliciawallace
