Gas prices drop nearly 7 cents

[kris]

CNN) -- Gas prices dropped nearly seven cents per gallon during the past two weeks, continuing a decline that began five weeks ago, to $1.94 per gallon of self-serve regular, a national survey reported Sunday.

That's down 6.67 cents from the average cost of a gallon of gas June 11, said Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey, and 13 cents from the $2.07 peak five weeks ago.

The survey looked at the price of gas at about 7,000 stations nationwide.

Lundberg said lower oil prices, which have edged down nearly a dollar since June 11, to $37.55 per barrel, contributed to the drop.

Another factor, Lundberg said, is that refineries have largely completed maintenance projects that had taken some offline.

Prices could drop still further next month, when OPEC production increases are slated to begin.

Saudi Arabia led the move, promising to boost production by 2 million barrels per day beginning next month, and by another 500,000 barrels per day in August.

Still, boosts in production may not be accompanied by lockstep declines in gas prices because July marks the beginning of the peak driving season -- and hence peak demand -- and anti-smog formulations required of refiners during the summer months are the toughest and most expensive of any during the year, Lundberg said.

At $1.69 per gallon of self-serve regular, drivers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, paid the least, whereas drivers in San Francisco, California, paid the most, at $2.27.

[kris]

I paid about 1.95 about a 2 and half wks ago and just today I paid 1.79 today. So the prices are going down quite a bit!