Northwest, Iowa — The leaves are starting to fall from the trees and a state fuel analyst says gas prices are going to start doing the same sometime soon.
Department of Natural Resources analyst, Harold Hommes says the gas price fall toward the two-dollar a gallon mark hit a barrier with a couple refineries stopping production for repairs.
Hommes says the planned and unplanned repairs had an immediate impact, but he says it shouldn’t last much longer.
He says there’s often a lag between the drop in wholesale gas prices and the drop at the retail level.
Gas prices average two dollars, 51 cents a gallon in Iowa last week. That was up nine cents from the previous week and down 53 cents from the same time last year. Diesel prices moved up slightly last week, but Hommes says it’s not related to the refinery issues.
Hommes says they want to create some space to prepare a different blend that is used when the weather gets colder.
The transition tightens up supplies of diesel and causing the price increase. Diesel was up six cents in Iowa last week on average to two-dollars, 54 cents a gallon. Hommes says the increase in diesel doesn’t impact ordinary drivers very much as not very many use the fuel. It’s biggest impact is on the construction and transportation industries.
