AAA Texas: State Gasoline Prices Continue Rapid Downward Trend

IRVING, TX Aug 1, 2008; For the second week in a row, gasoline prices at the pump fell significantly in Texas, keeping in line with the recent fall in wholesale crude prices and the national drop in oil prices, according to the AAA Texas Weekend Gas Watch.

The average price for a gallon of gas in Texas is now $3.81 a gallon, down nearly 11 cents in one week and 18 cents in two weeks. On the national level, prices fell 12 cents a gallon from just below $4.03 last week to $3.91 a gallon today. Still, prices across the United States and Texas are more than a dollar a gallon higher than they were on this date one year ago today.

For the second week in a row, gasoline in Corpus Christi remains the cheapest at a fraction more than $3.75 a gallon. Motorists in El Paso paid the highest for fuel at $3.86 a gallon. That's down six cents since last week -- the smallest decline of any city in Texas.

"The drop in gasoline prices may be reflecting the more than $20-a-barrel drop in crude oil prices since the first week of July when they hit a record of $147 a barrel," said AAA Texas Corporate Communications Manager Dan Ronan. "It often takes a few weeks for retail prices to catch up to what's happening in the markets, but that seems to be the case now."

 
                                      Diffe-         Diffe-
                     07/31/08 7/24/08 rence 07/31/07 rence    Date    Price
                     -------- ------- ----- -------- -----  --------  -----
National              3.909   4.026  -0.117  2.867  +1.042  07/17/08  4.114
State                 3.808   3.916  -0.108  2.795  +1.013  07/17/08  3.985
Amarillo              3.811   3.875  -0.064  2.925  +0.886  07/16/08  3.983
Austin-San Marcos     3.842   3.925  -0.083  2.810  +1.032  07/17/08  3.975
Beaumont              3.798   3.915  -0.117  2.780  +1.018  07/16/08  4.001
Corpus Christi        3.755   3.861  -0.106  2.643  +1.112  07/15/08  3.960
Dallas                3.799   3.911  -0.112  2.780  +1.019  07/16/08  3.983
El Paso               3.863   3.922  -0.059  2.873  +0.990  07/17/08  3.967
Ft. Worth             3.781   3.894  -0.113  2.764  +1.017  07/16/08  3.975
Galveston             3.816   3.908  -0.092  2.776  +1.040  07/14/08  3.968
Houston               3.788   3.892  -0.104  2.741  +1.047  07/17/08  3.960
San Antonio           3.803   3.905  -0.102  2.781  +1.022  07/16/08  3.957
Texarkana (TX Only)   3.770   3.893  -0.123  2.776  +0.994  07/16/08  3.981