Gas prices fall, gas futures tumble

NEW YORK – Gas prices fell overnight, ending more than a week of steady advances.

Gasoline futures, meanwhile, reasserted their leadership on the energy complex, dragging oil prices below $74 a barrel on news that refineries and a pipeline were returning to service quickly after unexpected problems.


The average national price of a gallon of gas dipped 0.4 cent overnight, to $3.05, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Prices rose through the spring, peaking at $3.227 in late May, on concerns about gasoline supplies. Prices then fell steadily to $2.949 a gallon in early July before refinery problems in the Midwest again sent the national average upward.

While one refinery, a 108,000-barrel-per-day facility in Coffeyville, Kan., remains closed after a flood, others have rebounded quickly from unexpected outages over the past week. A BP PLC refinery in Whiting, Ind., returned a 250,000 barrel-per-day piece of equipment to service, and a pipeline linking Texas to Illinois was reopened after a leak forced its closure on Sunday.

AP