Gas prices drop 30 cents in two weeks

1:51 p.m.

One gas station in Rocky Mount is selling gas for $2.89 a gallon for regular unleaded.

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11:20 a.m.

Good news for some relief at the pain at the pump.

AAA Mid-Atlantic says the Commonwealth’s average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline has dropped 30 cents in the past two weeks.  As of Wednesday, October 8th, it stands at $3.42 a gallon.  The Roanoke region’s average is at $3.39, down 37 cents from two weeks ago.  The national average stands at $3.45 per gallon.

“Gas prices will likely fall faster and further in the days ahead due to the recent sharp sell-off in the price of oil to near $90 per barrel and wholesale gasoline prices that have dropped below $2.40 per gallon as of last week,” said Martha Mitchell Meade, spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic in a news release.

AAA listed these reasons for the falling prices:

• Improving gasoline inventories after the refinery and pipeline system shutdowns in the U.S. due to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike
• Significant strengthening of the U.S. dollar as Europe’s banking sector deals with its own lending crisis
• Continued decline in demand for oil and gasoline in the United States and Europe
• Fewer energy futures contracts being traded due to a lack of confidence in markets
• Problems in the world’s financial markets have temporarily erased the notion that developing world economies will keep net demand for energy growing even if more advanced economies experience a recession

AAA predicts the national average will fall to around $3.00 per gallon by Thanksgiving.