Gas-Price Drop Foreseen For 2014
Downward pressure will lower gasoline prices at the pumps in 2014 but won’t lead to a major increase in consumption, according to a forecast from the website GasBuddy.com, which posts gasoline prices from throughout the United States.
GasBuddy predicts the average price of a gallon of gasoline will fall about 10 cents from its 2013 average, although it also forecasts a spring spike that will drive the nationwide average up to $3.83. Average spring gasoline in Massachusetts will be higher, between $3.85 and $3.99.
But GasBuddy expects the year-long average to settle at $3.399, which would drop it below $3.40 for the first time since 2010, when the average for the year was $2.78. The average for 2014 in Massachusetts is expected to fall between $3.40 and $3.65 a gallon.
The GasBuddy report said there may have been a small rise in demand in 2013, which it said would be the first annual increase since the peak demand year of 2007. But it cautioned that the final numbers for U.S. gasoline consumption won’t be released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration until February.
“Optimists looking at the U.S. economy will no doubt claim that cheaper gasoline prices are inspiring some behavioral changes among drivers,” the GasBuddy report said. But it added: “Most of the rhetoric tends to be subjective cheerleading and is based more on hope than on statistical observation.”
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