Gasoline prices continue dropoff

[notiCIas]

Gasoline prices continue dropoff

Survey: 25-cent-a-gallon decline over two weeks is biggest in 50 years; near pre-Katrina levels.

October 24, 2005: 5:13 AM EDT

ATLANTA (CNN) - The average price of gas in the United States fell more than 25 cents per gallon of self-serve regular over the past two weeks to $2.66, only slightly more more than its pre-Katrina price, a survey said Sunday.

"The drop is mostly from refining capacity comeback and, to a lesser degree, lower demand," said Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey, which compared prices tallied on Oct. 21 and Oct. 7 at about 5,000 gas stations in all 50 states. The drop is the biggest in the survey's half-century existence, she said.

The Oct. 21 level is just 3 cents above what it was on August 26, two days before Katrina rampaged along the Gulf Coast, damaging many of the refineries there, Lundberg said.

With Hurricane Wilma far from the refinery-rich region, Lundberg predicted "a lot more price cutting" at the pump.

Tulsa drivers paid the least, at $2.20 per gallon, and Honolulu drivers the most, at $3.03 per gallon of self-serve regular, she said.

Here are some other prices: Atlanta: $2.68; Baton Rouge, La.: $2.69; Boston: $2.63; Denver: $2.65; Detroit: $2.42; Houston: $2.71; Los Angeles: $2.81; St. Louis: $2.51.