As the January highs reached by crude oil continue to fade, gas prices in San Antonio are following them downward, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Daniel Armbruster with AAA Texas says the average price in San Antonio today is $2.21 a gallon, down 4 cents from last week and one of the lowest prices in the country.
"In fact Texas has the lowest average price of any state in the country for the fourth straight week," Armbruster said.
The national average gas price today is $2.52 a gallon.But Armbruster says these low prices probably won't last.
He says refineries are entering the period when they shut down for maintenance, and then return to produce lower smog summer blend gasoline, which is more expensive to produce.
"If production slows or crude oil jumps, that could have an impact on prices, sending them upward into March."
We are paying 18 cents a gallon more today than we were paying on February 22 or 2017, the product of rising demand for gasoline, largely due to the strong economy, and attempts to OPEC to raise prices by cutting production.
But much of that production cut is being made up by Texas shale oil. U.S. production is already at its highest level since 1970, as the U.S. turns out more than 10 million barrels per day.