Slight retreat on gas-price front

 
Staff report
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Gas prices continued to retreat, albeit slightly, for the second straight week. The average U.S. retail price for regular gasoline dropped to $2.65 a gallon on Friday, down 3 cents over the week and 47 cents above year-ago prices. Yet despite recent increases, gasoline prices are still $1.46 below the record price of $4.11 set last July.

“The driving factor in gas price stability is crude oil,” said Martha M. Meade, manager of public and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “Slow economic recovery, coupled with rising inventories and a weakened U.S. dollar have kept crude oil prices somewhat stable in recent weeks. As we look ahead less than two weeks to the Thanksgiving holiday, continued stability on both the crude oil and gasoline fronts would certainly be welcomed by motorists.”

Crude oil saw minimal increases early last week, only to drop nearly 3 percent Thursday as the Energy Information Agency’s weekly report showed crude oil inventories rose more than expected.

Prices continued to fall Friday, reaching the lowest level in nearly a month as U.S. demand concerns continued to grow. In addition to increased inventories and poor demand, the weakened U.S. dollar and fragile economic recovery are key factors in the increased price of crude oil in recent months.