At an average of $2.44 a gallon, nationally, Americans are paying the cheapest price for gasoline over a Labor Day holiday weekend since 2004, according to separate forecasts from the US Energy Information Administration, Bloomberg reported. Thank crude oil’s 13% plunge this year to $46.17 a barrel as of Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange for relief at filling stations. That’s the lowest, seasonally, in at least a decade. None of it would be possible without the oil wells in shale drilling deposits gushing near the highest level in 40 years, leaving refineries awash in petroleum. Speculation that Iran’s exports will exacerbate a global glut have also helped keep oil in check.
