news-record.com

Gas prices at a number of Triad stations have dipped below $2.50 a gallon, thanks to a 10-cent drop in the past week.

The decline comes during a year that has seen gas prices remain remarkably stable but just in time to save motorists a few dollars on their Labor Day trips.

AAA officials say gas prices typically don’t begin to drop until after the summer vacation season ends.

Thank falling crude oil prices for the decline.

“Lately, we have seen crude oil going from $85 a barrel to the $70-$75 range,” said Doug MacIntyre, senior oil analyst at the Energy Information Administration in Washington. “That’s probably the biggest explanation of why prices have declined.”

That and the highest level of crude oil inventories in 20 years.

So, with all that oil around, why haven’t prices declined further?

Blame oil speculators, said Brendan Byrnes, a spokesman for AAA Carolinas, a motor club based in Charlotte.

Byrnes said speculators keep oil prices from falling as much as they would under typical supply-and-demand models.

“(They) are either feeling positive or negative based on the news and reports they are getting,” Byrnes said.

Byrnes said he expects prices to continue to fall through Labor Day.

After that, MacIntyre said he expects prices will remain steady over the next three to four weeks.

In Greensboro, AAA said, prices should average $2.58 a gallon for unleaded regular on Labor Day. That’s 12 cents lower than on Memorial Day and 5 cents higher than on Labor Day 2009.

Across the Piedmont, according to greensborogasprices.com, gas ranged from a low of $2.43 at several stations in Mebane and Haw River to $2.79 at a Marathon station in High Point.

Statewide, Byrnes said, gas prices haven’t fluctuated so little since 2003. This year, he said, they’ve moved only about 30 cents a gallon. In the previous four years, he said, the price swing was about $1 a year.

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com