Gasoline prices will continue to fall through the rest of the year, along with some other energy sources, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted.
The EIA forecast Tuesday that gasoline would cost $3.30 a gallon on average in December, dropping from $3.61 in July. The decline would follow a streak of monthly decreases since March, when gasoline hit $4 a gallon on average.
{mosads}“U.S. drivers could find more savings at the pump in the months ahead as gasoline prices are expected to fall through the end of the year to an average of $3.30 a gallon in December,” EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski said in a statement.
Despite the ongoing turmoil in Iraq, gasoline prices have fallen every week since the beginning of July, according to EIA figures.
The agency also predicted decreases in the prices of electricity, residential natural gas and diesel fuel. The forecasts came in the EIA’s monthly short-term energy outlook.
Electricity, which averaged 13 cents per kilowatt-hour in July, will drop to 12.11 cents in December, the EIA said.
Natural gas’s seasonal fluctuations will bring it to $10.12 per thousand cubic feet in December, from last month’s $16.69. Diesel will cost $3.86 a gallon, just 2 cents below last month’s price.
Sieminski said July was the first time that renewable electricity sources other than hydropower produced more energy than hydropower. He also predicted that the United States will produce more crude oil next year than any year since 1972.