Motorists catch break in price of gasoline
RENO — Motorists are feeling a little less pain at the pumps in Nevada.
The average price of gasoline fell 19 cents in July from the previous month, AAA reported on Tuesday.
Statewide, the average was for a gallon of self-serve unleaded dropped to $3.05, just a penny higher than the national average.
The biggest decline in Nevada was in Carson city, where prices fell 28 cents to $3.03.
In Reno, prices dropped 23 cents to $3.08.
Las Vegas had the lowest prices in the state at $2.96, or 19 cents cheaper than last month. A few Las Vegas Valley stations are selling regular unleaded fuel for $2.90.
Elko, which often has the cheapest gasoline, had the highest at $3.27, AAA said.
Nationally, gasoline prices dropped a cent at the pump overnight, following a futures market that has plunged more than 25 cents a gallon over five days on news of growing inventories and refineries returning to service.
Oil prices slid lower after rising above $75 earlier on concerns about disruptions in supplies of the light, sweet crude that is most in demand by refineries as they increase their operations to produce more gasoline. Trading across the energy futures complex was choppy.
Analysts have been mystified by the different directions oil and gasoline futures have taken over the past several Nymex sessions, predicting that one contract was bound to follow the lead of the other at some point.
