Gasoline prices dropped another two cents across Houston Tuesday to an average of $3.81 a gallon. The statewide average is down 22 cents over the last week to $3.77.
The question is whether or not we will continue the trend.
There are good reasons why we will be seeing the price of gasoline creep upward in the next few weeks, not the least of which is that Iran and Russia, along with the US and Israel, are playing a "game of chicken" in the Middle East.
So says the founder of America First Refining Company, John Calce, who's working to build, near Brownsville, the first US Gulf Coast oil refinery in 50 years.
Exxon Mobil's Senior Vice President Neil Chapman warned last week that spare oil in tanks and pipelines are starting to reach critical levels because of Iran's threats in the Strait of Hormuz, effectively shutting down the flow of oil and related products, resulting in increasingly higher consumer prices in the future.
Calce says, "I think you've got a situation where not just the US but also Iran and probably Russia playing a global game of chicken here in the oil price."
And that game is playing out at the pumps all over the world, with rising gasoline prices and even some gas rationing going into effect in Asian companies.
"In the US, we're better positioned than other countries because we have a plentiful supply of oil here," he adds, but it's easy to forget that oil and gas, which tend to rise and fall in tandem, are traded on international markets -- where it's first-come-first-served, oil goes to the highest bidder, and even nations with extra oil will also end up paying extra prices.
"In the absence of a deal in the Middle East, the tightness of the global market will unfortunately drive up prices in the United States as well."