USA TODAY: With crude oil prices plunging to near two-year lows and likely to remain tepid through year’s end, consumers in all but a handful of states could soon pay $3 a gallon or less for gasoline, the lowest pump prices since 2010.
Rising global oil production, ample inventories, slackening demand and a U.S. dollar trading at multiyear highs have wreaked havoc on the global oil markets in recent weeks. Tuesday, benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude sank 3.6% to $91.16 a barrel, while Brent crude fell 2.4% to $94.83. The crude oil sell-off — which pushed third-quarter crude prices down 13% — spilled over to wholesale gas markets Tuesday, pushing mid-October deliveries down 11% to $2.59 a gallon.
Behind the drop: rising global oil production, ample inventories, the strong U.S. dollar and growing expectations that demand will remain slack through 2015. Also helping: a bumper corn crop that’s driven ethanol prices to their lowest levels since 2009… (more)
