Will Gas Hit $1 Soon? Find The Cheapest In South Orange Here

In South Orange, as of Thursday, the cheapest gas in town could be found at the South Orange Delta at 451 Irvington Avenue at $1.58 per gallon, according to Mapquest.

But nationwide, the average price per gallon may soon dip below $1, some industry spokespeople say.

As gas prices continued to plummet Tuesday, experts predicted that the cost of a gallon could eventually fall below a dollar in some places before everything is said and done.

Prices are especially low in the Midwest and Great Plains, where a perfect storm of leftover gasoline, retail chain behavior and the nationwide price of oil has droppedaverage statewide gas prices to as low as $1.37 per gallonand nearly $1.70 nationwide, GasBuddy Senior Petroleum Analyst Gregg Laskoski told Patch.

Several factors are at work.

Companies are currently trying to run through “huge” supplies of winter-blend gasoline, Laskoski said, which will be swapped out for a more fuel-efficient, but more expensive, blend in the summer months, as mandated by the EPA.

As they try to sell off the stockpiles before the winter months end, the price goes down, Laskoski said.

In Great Lakes states like Michigan and Wisconsin, a small handful of retail gas chains dominate the area, pushing gas prices down even further.

“It’s a retail environment that the federal government refers to as ‘price cycling,’” Laskoski told Patch.

“It’s typically where a small number of dominant retail chains will push prices as low as they can go, sometimes even to the point where they’re taking a loss on the gas, simply to drive traffic into those convenience stores.”

Meanwhile, the West Texas Intermediate, a U.S. benchmark for crude oil, was down more than 4 percent Tuesday, continuing a downward trend over the last 365 days.

It all adds up to gas prices that continue to fall and could reach below a dollar in some places, Laskoski said.

The nationwide average as of 4:10 p.m. ET Tuesday was $1.719 per gallon, down 7 cents from last week, 25.8 cents from last month and more than 45 cents from a year ago, according to GasBuddy.

The lowest gas prices in America are in Oklahoma, a state centrally located to major refineries and gas supplies, where the statewide average is $1.37, followed by Indiana ($1.46), Kansas ($1.46), Ohio ($1.48), Michigan ($1.49), GasBuddy says.

When will it end? Analysts say it’s hard to tell (and if they did know, they’d be heading to their nearest lottery retailer and stock broker, too).

Laskoski said it isn’t unreasonable to think that the national average could drop anywhere from 5 to 10 more cents per gallon before winter reserves run out, the price of oil levels out and gas prices start to increase again.

“We know prices will hit a plateau, but sometimes you won’t know it’s a plateau until it’s in the rearview mirror,” he said. “There’s a lot of moving parts.”

You can find the price of gas in your area by typing in the zip code here:

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