Auto Trends

Unless you have been sitting in your basement playing marbles for the past week, you should have no doubt noticed the ever decreasing price of gas at the pumps. Are the oil companies running scared from all the treehuggers and their electric lawn mower buggy’s… no! Did they win the lottery and are spreading their wealth to the rest of us poor gas starved folks… don’t think so!

Oil Surplus to the Rescue

Truth be told, for the first time in months, we actually have a bit of a surplus of gas, which has been slowly driving prices back down. The gulf coast oil refineries are back up and running full scale, and suddenly the world has become a better place to drive.

A place where a person can drop by their local convenient store and fill up their SUV or Winnebago without spending an arm and two legs… Today, it is more like just their two pinky fingers and their fifth born.

Winter Blends Roll in Price Drops

Yesterday saw but another price drop, as winter fuel blends have been officially brought in to replaced the summer blends. This meant that many areas saw gasoline within the $3.00 a gallon range or lower.

Despite the fact that people are always complaining about the poor quality of winter gasoline, it always seems to save us ever so slightly each year with at least a small price break. This year it looks like our Christmas has come early with the break we have received.

Summer vs. Winter blend

Compared to the summer blend gasoline, the winter blend does not contain the same extensive processing to remove certain volatile characteristics of the gas that make it more healthy for our ozone. The simpler processing makes the cost of gas production go down between $0.10 to $0.15 per gallon. This is where that savings can come in.

In addition to this, winter blend also must have at least 10 percent ethanol added to its mixture, in what has otherwise become known as E10, E20 (20 percent ethanol), and E30 (30 percent ethanol). This ethanol helps oxygenate the fuel, which improves the quality of the octane, boosts the combustion process, and decreases carbon monoxide output.

Gas Prices Predicted to Drop Lower

The experts are telling us that this isn’t the lowest that we are going to see gas drop this year, as many are predicting the possibility of $2.50 a gallon by the time winter rolls around in full swing. What are people going to do, now that they no longer have a good excuse to blow off Aunt Matilda’s Holiday party and fruit cake casserole!

That $2.50 won’t last forever however, so eat an extra large helping of that casserole and give your Aunt an extra tight hug when you leave, because come next year around this time, there is no telling what gas prices may be!