There’s good news on the horizon for those long-frustrated drivers who have been wishing to see sub-$3 per gallon gas again.

As reported by CNBC, gas prices are expected to continue their downward trend after Labor Day and into the fall. As of Tuesday, gas prices were sitting at $3.77 per gallon nationally, down seven cents over the past week and thirty-one cents over the past month, according to AAA data.

“I think the good news is going to keep going for now,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told the business news outlet.

“I’m hopeful we can get to $3.49 between Halloween and Thanksgiving,” he continued, adding that there is an outside chance that the national average reaches as low as $3.29 per gallon if there are no major hurricanes or refinery outages.

“I still think we could see some states drop under $3, primarily Oklahoma, Texas by the end of the year, if not earlier,” De Haan concluded.

Andrew Gross, AAA’s spokesperson, noted that he will be closely watching what the final month of peak hurricane season brings.

“According to weather analysts, it’s the first time in twenty-five years that a named Atlantic storm did not develop in August. That’s the good news,” he said in a release.

“But we still have another month of peak hurricane season, and these storms can affect gas prices by disrupting oil production and refining,” he added.

Meanwhile, Tom Kloza, head of global energy analysis at Oil Price Information Service, admitted that there’s a possibility that pump prices could turn higher again toward the end of the year.

“Prices on balance are going to be relatively palatable for the rest of the year,” he told CNBC. However, “there’s too many things that could cause a wobble higher.”

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), domestic gas demand last week climbed slightly from 8.43 million barrels per day to 8.59 million barrels per day. That rate, however, is nearly a million barrels per day lower than the last week of August 2021. Meanwhile, total domestic gasoline stocks trekked lower by 1.1 million bbl to 214.5 million bbl.

“Although gasoline demand rose and supply tightened, lower oil prices led to falling pump prices,” AAA wrote. “If oil prices continue to decline, drivers will likely continue to see pump prices drop further.”

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Finance and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters