Gasoline down, but 'It can't last'
Lundberg survey shows 5 cent drop over past three weeks, but expects rising crude to impact pump.
August 15, 2004: 7:46 PM EDT
ATLANTA (CNN) - A recent surge in the price of crude oil has yet to be felt at U.S. filling stations, where gasoline prices dropped nearly a nickel per gallon during the past three weeks, to $1.87 per gallon of self-serve regular, a national survey said Sunday.
That means prices have tumbled 20 cents since May 21, when they peaked at $2.07 per gallon of self-serve regular, said Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey, which tallies gas prices at about 7,000 gas stations every two or three weeks.
But don't count on the price of gas to stay where it is for long before heading back up, she said: Even as gas prices have been falling since the May 21 peak, the price of crude has been spurting, closing Friday at an all-time high of $46.58.
"It can't last," Lundberg said, attributing the fall in gasoline prices to increased supply. "Wholesale gasoline prices are already responding to the crude oil price hikes, and are on the way up, so a turnaround at the pump can be expected fairly quickly."
At $1.72 per gallon, drivers in Tulsa, Okla., paid the least in the nation; Honolulu drivers paid the most, at $2.26.
Here are some other prices: Atlanta: $1.75; Dallas: $1.78; Miami: $1.83; Seattle: $1.89; Sacramento, Calif.: $1.99; Hartford, Conn.: $1.98; Pittsburgh: $1.83; St. Louis: $1.83;
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