Corner station wins battle in gas war with new low price

I buried a prediction in the middle of Saudi Arabia opens a trap door on oil prices.

The national average has resumed its decline and is now at $2.76, while the Detroit average has fallen through $2.80 on its way to $2.79.  That means that the next stop for regular gas in the neighborhood is $2.69.  That could happen this week.

It did.  Tuesday night, at least one of the three stations down the street had lowered its price to $2.69 (the other two were closed), while the corner station was still at $2.75.  When I checked again on Wednesday evening, all three stations had matched that price, while the corner station remained at $2.75.  Thursday night, the corner station decided to see the price drop and "raise" the bet by lowering its price to $2.63, a new low for the history of this blog.  Today, it got the other three stations to respond as they lowered their prices back to $2.65, exactly where they were when Gas bounced off the floor.

Both the local and national average prices from Gas Buddy continue to drop.  Both the national and Detroit averages are at $2.70 and falling.  At this rate, the next stop is $2.59, which I expect will happen next week.  After that, prices only have a week or two to reach their lows for the year, as retail prices for gas usually start to go up between Christmas and New Years Day.

Crude oil is finding new multi-year lows, with Oil-Price.Net showing WTI selling at $65.84 and Brent closing below $70 at $69.07.  The spot price and the January futures for RBOB continue to plummet with both closing at $1.77.  Futures for RBOB are still below $2.00 through March.  Expect prices at the pump to remain below $3.00 until at least March, if not later.