Gas prices are on the rise again in St. Louis after a volatile couple of weeks. The average cost of a gallon of gasoline was $2.33 in St. Louis Saturday.
Prices bottomed out on Friday at an average cost of $2.14 a gallon in the Metro area, a 60 cent drop in less than two weeks. A Festus gas station went down to $1.85.
A petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com said the drop is especially dramatic because prices rose before they fell.
“After some refinery issues in the Midwest that pushed St. Louis’ average price from about $2.36 all the way up to $2.75, we’ve seen not only those refinery issues be fixed but a tremendous drop in the price of crude oil,” said analyst Patrick DeHaan.
Gas stations in St. Ann and Jennings were still below $2 a gallon on Saturday, but DeHaan said a rally in the price of a barrel of crude oil on Friday likely soon means an end to finding gas that cheap, at least until October.
“I’m thinking sub-two-dollar-gallon prices will be more sustained toward Halloween perhaps. Maybe even earlier. That’s maybe conservative,” DeHaan said. “Of course right now we’re still in the peak of the summer driving season and the price of oil has been very volatile in the last week in regards to China, Iran and economic concerns.”
DeHaan said prices generally drop during the cooler months when refineries switch to cheaper winter gasoline and there’s less demand. He predicts prices will dip below $2 sometime in October and go up once more around February.
Follow Camille Phillips on Twitter: @cmpcamille.
