Oil Expert Says $5 A Gallon Gas Is Coming

Many Louisiana drivers have been rejoicing at the much smaller numbers they see at the gas pump when they fill up. Compared to this time last year most of us are paying about a dollar a gallon less than were were then. That means in a vehicle with an 18 gallon tank, you're saving almost $20 bucks on a fill up.

Is this as low as the gas prices will go? Spokesman and fuel analyst Don Redman with the American Automobile Association says there may be a little further the prices can fall but it does look like that drop won't be significant.

"We're looking at the wholesale gasoline kind of settled between the $1.31 - $1.33 range.  So it does look like, indeed, that we have reached some kind of plateau. But, certainly, by mid to late February, I think we'll start seeing some of those prices moving upward as we start heading into spring."

Redman made those comments in a story reported by the Louisiana Radio Network.

Of course in South Louisiana low oil prices are a double edge sword. Since so many of us make a living off the oil and gas industry we know that further drops in oil prices could start to affect jobs in the area. One oil industry expert says not to worry, the price of crude oil will begin to rebound by the middle of this year.

"The next round of high prices is likely to start later this year, as crude rebounds to the $80s and $90s, perhaps pushing to the $100 level by late in the year or early next,"

John Hoffmeister, a former president of Shell Oil, was quoted in a story published by USA Today on January 20th. If Hoffmeister's predictions ring true, then you and I could be paying as much as $5 for a gallon of gasoline. That would be more than double what the current price is now.

Personally I like it somewhere in the middle where I don't need a second job to fill up my tank and the jobs of many friends and families are secure in the oilfield.