Fuel costs: below $2/gallon by Christmas?

Another 1.7 cents per gallon were chopped last week from the average pump price for gasoline in Nevada, according to a recent survey.

The statewide price reached $3.10 per gallon based on a survey of 1,130 gasoline outlets across the state, which was released on Labor Day by Gas Buddy.com. The website, which handles the survey, also said the national price has dropped 6.1 cents per gallon in the same weekly time frame to $2.39 a gallon on average.

In Carson City on Tuesday, according to the same website, pump prices at 25 stations ranged from a low of $2.55 a gallon at three stations to a high of $2.97 a gallon at just one of them.

In Nevada, gas prices on Labor Day were 48 cents a gallon lower than on the same day a year earlier and more than a dime a gallon lower than a month earlier. Nationally, prices were more than $1.03 a gallon lower than the previous year and more than 20 cents lower than the previous month.

Patrick DeHaan, a GasBuddy petroleum analyst, said he expects the national average price of gas to keep dipping.

“As we begin to near the terminus for summer gasoline, I expect prices to continue moving lower, with our projections aiming at sub-$2 per gallon average by Christmas — or perhaps even earlier,” he said.