Gas prices fall in Fort Worth-Arlington and should fall soon in the rest of the country

From staff and news service reports

Gasoline prices in Fort Worth-Arlington are down about 20 cents a gallon from a month ago and are among the nation's lowest, but the rest of the country should enjoy lower prices later this year.

In the meantime, drivers on either coast may be questioning the conventional wisdom that gas prices fall after Labor Day. Instead, refinery and pipeline problems have shrunk supplies of gasoline on the coasts and driven up prices in states that typically have some of the highest gas prices in the U.S. anyway.

But in Texas, "we're not seeing some of the low supply the other places are seeing," and that's keeping prices down, said Doug Shupe, Texas spokesman for the AAA auto group.

In Fort Worth-Arlington, regular unleaded gasoline averaged $3.48 as of Wednesday, compared with $3.69 a month earlier. That's the lowest among metropolitan markets in Texas, where the average was $3.54, down about 12 cents from a month earlier.

Texas refineries largely escaped the 2012 hurricane season, Shupe said.

"We bounced by Hurricane Isaac very well. We didn't have that long shutdown, and production continued," he said.

For the entire country, average gas prices have dropped in the past month, but less than typically seen after Labor Day.

At $3.78 a gallon, the national average is the highest ever for this time of year.

Motorists in California paid an average of $4.232 per gallon Wednesday. That's 45 cents higher than the national average and exceeded only by Hawaii among the 50 states.

Prices in New York, Connecticut and New Hampshire are at or near highs for the year. They're also about 40 cents higher than a year ago.

California's gasoline inventories have shrunk to the lowest levels in more than a decade. That has been exacerbated by the state's strict anti-pollution laws which require costlier blends of gasoline.

Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service, expects another dramatic surge in West Coast prices over the next five days before they eventually head lower.

Since mid-September, oil prices have dropped 11 percent -- including a 4 percent drop Wednesday -- largely on concerns about the sluggish global economy. Overall U.S. supplies remain plentiful and demand is anemic.

Kloza expects a broad portion of the country to see prices at $3.50 or lower by Thanksgiving.

Staff writer Jim Fuquay contributed to this report, which includes material from The Associated Press.

Looking for comments?