WASHINGTON, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Even as the gasoline price kept rising in the United States since early 2019, U.S. drivers and other gasoline users may pay less compared to last summer, according to a report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
EIA expected that the retail price of U.S. regular-grade gasoline would average 2.76 U.S. dollars per gallon from April through September this year. The number is 3 percent lower than the average retail price of 2.85 dollars per gallon for the same period in 2018.
According to the EIA, the monthly average retail gasoline prices in the United States would increase from 2.74 dollars per gallon in April to a peak of 2.83 dollars per gallon in June. Then the price was expected to fall gradually to 2.66 dollars per gallon by September.
The lower estimation on the average retail gasoline price mainly resulted from the lower price of crude oil.
"Because gasoline and diesel taxes and distribution costs are generally stable across the United States, changes in U.S. retail gasoline and diesel prices are generally driven by changes in crude oil prices," EIA said.
For the week ending on Monday, the U.S. average regular gasoline retail price increased over 8 cents from last week to nearly 2.83 U.S. dollars per gallon. In the first week of 2019, gasoline price across the United States was 2.237 dollars per gallon.
