Gasoline prices fall for the 4th week. Carolinas prices down about 10 cents in month

Charlotte Posted on Fri, Apr. 18, 2003 DIANNE WHITACRE Staff Writer

With the Easter weekend starting today, Carolina drivers will find gasoline prices down about 10 cents from a month ago.

It's the fourth consecutive week that prices have dropped as the war in Iraq winds down, supplies increase and the oil market loses its jitters.

N.C. prices average $1.54 a gallon for regular and $1.47 in South Carolina, where gas taxes are lower. In North Carolina, they range from a low of $1.49 in Raleigh to $1.60 in Boone, according to AAA Carolinas. South Carolina prices range from $1.39 in Spartanburg to $1.55 in Myrtle Beach.

Ginger and Pete Maxwell of south Charlotte were gassing up their Chrysler van Thursday on their way to Emerald Isle. "We'd go to the beach whether gas was $1 a gallon or $5 a gallon," Pete Maxwell said. "But I can't complain about the price drop."

Federal analysts predict gas will average $1.56 a gallon nationally this summer, up from $1.39 last summer. The national average is $1.58. The U.S. Department of Energy says uncertainties in the Middle East, Nigeria and Venezuela still affect the market.

The department also expects gas sales to increase 1.6 percent this summer over last as the recession eases and travel goes up.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced it will hold an emergency meeting next week to discuss cutting production. World supplies are up because of extra exports by Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this year, on the eve of war, a few private analysts predicted prices over $2 a gallon. Prices peaked well short of that in the Carolinas. Prices for regular were a high of $1.63 in North Carolina and $1.58 in South Carolina, in mid-March.

Crude oil prices reached almost $40 a barrel before the start of the Iraqi war, but have fallen to less than $30 a barrel -- its lowest price in five months.

The United States imports 55 percent of its petroleum.