Holiday travelers heading south expected to save at the pump

The good news for holiday travelers going south is that gas prices are less than $2 outside Pennsylvania.

If you’re headed really far south and hit Interstate 95, you can get gas for as low $1.64 just off the highway in Dillon, S.C., according to GasBuddy.com.

Fueling up, though it was thought to be possible earlier this year, never fell below a $2 average in Pennsylvania. The $2.19 average in the state, however, is almost 50 cents lower than a year ago.

GasBuddy.com senior petroleum analyst Jeff Pelton said Pennsylvania has a steep hill to climb to lower gas prices.

“Unfortunately, Pennsylvania’s gas taxes are the highest at 70 cents,” he said. “That means you are usually one of the last ones to the party. There was an outside shot that Pennsylvania would have hit the $2 barrier, but refinery maintenance in October dragged on into November and really hurt the supply of gasoline that could be produced during that period.”

There are still great savings on gas prices that have added up to extra holiday spending. Pennsylvania, after all, hovered around a $4 average at times in the past five years.

GasBuddy.com projected lower holiday travel costs would save consumers $1.6 billion compared to last year.

“I have a V-8 and would never have imagined I could fill up for under $40,” Pelton said. “I have used my savings to upgrade my Christmas gifts for friends and family.”

Even though the state hasn’t followed most of the nation to sub $2 gas prices, there is still hope.

GasBuddy.com analysts expect price drops for the next five to six weeks.

“If and when the Iranian oil comes to market that will have definitely also serve as pressure on prices to drop possibly beyond those 5-6 weeks,” Pelton said. “They have the world’s fourth largest oil reserves.”

The falling fuel cost, he said, has been driven by the discovery of the Bakken oilfield in North Dakota and the emergence of hydrofracking technology.

This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 7:32 PM with the headline "Holiday travelers heading south expected to save at the pump."