R.I. gas prices fall as $100 oil is doubted

PROVIDENCE – Gasoline prices in Rhode Island have fallen for the first time in four weeks, AAA Southern New England reported Monday.

The auto club’s Nov. 9 survey found the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular at Ocean State stations was $2.69 per gallon, down 1 cent from last week. Gas prices have returned to where they stood before Labor Day.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is increasing its oil product at the fastest pace in two years despite near-record inventories, which could keep prices from reaching $100 a barrel as some traders expect, Bloomberg News reported.

“It’s not in OPEC’s interest to see $100 oil,” Stephen Schork, president of consultant Schork Group Inc. in Villanova, Pa., told Bloomberg. “They know that it’s the speculators that are the main driver in sending prices higher. At some point this market will implode, because this isn’t sustainable.”

Analysts also pointed out that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has called $75 a fair price for oil, and that his country has the production capacity to keep prices there.

Crude oil closed at $77.43 a barrel last week on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 76 percent since the start of this year. The price increased as much as 2 percent in trading early Monday as Hurricane Ida’s approach reduced production in the Gulf of Mexico.

In its survey, AAA found prices in Rhode Island ranging from $2.61 to $2.89 per gallon for unleaded regular. At $2.69, the average price per gallon in Rhode Island is 3 cents higher than the average price nationwide of $2.66.

A year ago, gas prices in Rhode Island stood at $2.23 per gallon, 46 cents below the current price, after falling from the record highs of the prior summer, according to AAA.

Prices rose for the fourth week in a row in Massachusetts. The AAA survey found the average price of self-serve, unleaded regular was $2.64 per gallon in the Bay State, up 1 cent from last week and 5 cents below Rhode Island’s average.

At stations in Rhode Island this week, the survey found average self-serve prices of $2.82 per gallon for midgrade unleaded, $2.93 for premium unleaded gasoline, and $2.90 for diesel.

For more information, visit AAA.com.