U.S. Gas Down on Midwest Price Cut

The average price of gas fell 17 cents a gallon in the Midwest in the last two weeks, driving the nationwide average down by 6 cents a gallon to $1.60. The sharp drop in the Midwest resulted from the oil industry overcompensating in an attempt to bring price relief to that part of the country, said analyst Trilby Lundberg. Nationwide, prices at the pump continued to decline from their highs in early June, according to the Lundberg Survey of 10,000 stations. In Chicago, which had the highest prices in the country in June, the cost of a gallon of gas is now just 1 cent above the nationwide average, even figuring in the city’s higher-than-average taxes, Lundberg said. Gas prices there have plummeted 55 cents a gallon since early last month. The rest of the country saw less dramatic price declines in the last two weeks. Retail prices on the West Coast fell one-tenth of a cent to $1.67 per gallon. The price of crude oil was also down Friday. The highest prices in the nation were in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the average price for a gallon of regular was $1.86.