Rose Rougeau Below Quotations

Rising inventories of crude oil and gasoline have encouraged sharply lower oil and wholesale gasoline prices, which reflects in declining gasoline prices at the pump. Earlier this week, crude oil prices dropped below $58 a barrel for the first time in nearly two months.

Retail gasoline prices have gone up 15 cents in the past two weeks. The increases can be traced to investor speculation leading to higher prices for both crude and wholesale gasoline. With crude trading around $64 a barrel, it doesn't appear likely gasoline will fall below $2 a gallon anytime soon.

Crude oil prices that continued to stay below $65 a barrel this week, fueled by the warmer than normal winter weather across the U.S., have helped drive retail gasoline prices slightly lower. It remains to be seen however, if these relatively modest declines in retail gasoline prices will continue with the geo-political concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions.