If you have had to fill up lately you probably have noticed that it’s a lot cheaper.
A gallon of regular in Texas is now around $2.78 -- a year ago it was hovering around $3.43. So why the change? A big factor is demand.
Now that school has restarted, family vacations have come to an end and we just aren’t driving as much. This is something we see every year after Labor Day.
Another seasonal trend is helping as well: The switch back from summer gas. Every fall, refineries switch back to making the winter blend of gasoline. That blend evaporates more easily in cold temperatures, making it easier for your car to start when it is chilly outside.
That winter blend contains more butane, which is less expensive than other gasoline components. That means gas prices often drop when we switch over to winter gas.
There has also been a big price drop in the cost of crude oil. That has been driven by concerns about weakening demand from China and expectations of an oil oversupply. In simple terms, there is a pretty good supply of oil right when demand is falling. That has caused the price of crude oil to fall 21% in the past year, which is good news for drivers.