An Oncue Express station in Oklahoma City was selling fuel for $1.99 a gallon Wednesday, becoming the first one to drop below $2 in the U.S. since July 30, 2010, said Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy Organization Inc., from Chicago. "We knew when we saw crude oil prices drop last week that we'd break the $2 threshold pretty soon, but we didn't know if it would happen in South Carolina, Texas, Missouri or Oklahoma," said DeHaan. "Today's national average, $2.74, now makes the current price we pay a whopping 51 cents per gallon less than what we paid a year ago."
Gasoline is sliding after OPEC decided last week not to cut production amid a global glut of oil that has already dragged international oil prices down by 39 percent in the past five months. Pump prices have fallen by almost a dollar since reaching this year's high on April 26.
In Minnesota, the average price of regular unleaded on Wednesday was $2.61, according to GasBuddy.com, which tracks prices through crowdsourcing. The lowest price in Minnesota, $2.39, was reported by GasBuddy at several stations.
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