Gas prices dip below $5 a gallon in first weekly decline since April

American motorists are getting some minor relief, with gasoline prices registering their first weekly drop in more than two months amid declining oil prices and a dip in consumer demand.

“Oil really tumbled today — the market is so headline-driven,” Andrew Gross, a spokesperson for auto club AAA, which tracks fuel costs, said on Friday. “There is a lot of worry about global recessions, which will cause a big slowdown.” 

The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas stood on Monday fell to $4.98, down from an even $5 on Friday, three days after hitting its all-time peak of nearly $5.02, according to AAA, which updates the figure daily. 

A drop in the price of crude oil, coupled with the first weekly dip in demand after three weekly increases, should offer at least a short-term respite from record-high gas prices, Gross told CBS MoneyWatch. 

According to Patrick De Haan, an analyst at GasBuddy, the national average is down almost five cents a gallon from a week ago, and stands at $4.97, with gas prices seeing their first weekly drop in nine weeks.

“Based on markets at this moment — they can and do change — the national average could fall to $4.55 to $4.75 a gallon in the weeks ahead unless trends shift,” De Haan tweeted on Friday.

White House has few levers to pull

People tend to mistakenly attribute the cost of gas to the U.S. president, when in reality there’s a limit to what the White House can do to lower fuel prices, said Gross, who noted that about 60% of the price at the pump is dictated by the cost of crude. “The local gas station sets its price, and there are all sorts of factors, including location and how many people are working there.”

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said earlier in the week that the Biden administration is working to ease the economic pain caused by high gas prices, including releasing 1 million barrels a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Still, “there’s not a quick fix,” she added.

Another potential White House move could help boost U.S. production, but would not bring immediate relief, analysts noted. 

“We expect the administration could activate the Defense Production Act for the expansion of refinery capacity, but any market/consumer impact from these efforts will be a longer-term consideration,” Raymond James Equity Research analysts Ed Mills and Chris Meekins said in a report.