Your Gas Price Could Drop to $2.50

After $5 a gallon gasoline prices and $100 a barrel oil at the start of the Ukraine war, both of those numbers could fall by half by next year. Goldman Sachs forecast the price of Brent crude futures contracts could decrease to the low $50s a barrel by late 2026. This is due to an expected increase in the global oil surplus next year. West Texas Intermediate crude, which is usually priced below Brent, could decline even further.

“We expect the oil surplus to widen and average 1.8 million barrels per day in 2025 Q4 (through) 2026 Q4, resulting in a nearly 800 million barrel rise in global stocks by end 2026,” the U.S. investment bank said in a client note.

Both the United States and OPEC+ are producing oil at record levels.

Gasoline prices are primarily driven by oil prices. The average price for a gallon of regular gas is $3.21 now. That is down from $3.35 a year ago. In some states, mostly those near Gulf of Mexico refineries, the price has already dropped to below $2.80 a gallon. The prices are $2.71 in Mississippi and $2.73 in Oklahoma.

The third component of gas prices, after oil and refineries, is state taxes per gallon. The tax per gallon in California, the highest, is $0.8655. The lowest is Alaska at $0.3353.

A drop in gas prices would help bring down inflation. Gasoline accounts for over 3% of the average household’s budget.

Avoid These States with the Highest Gas Taxes