Gary Strauss

USA TODAY

Crude oil prices fell to multi-year lows Monday, extending an autumn slide that cast more clouds over the energy sector but brightened the outlook for consumers who'll benefit by a continued slide in gasoline prices.

International benchmark Brent crude oil dropped $2.15 to $88.06 a barrel, its lowest since December 2010, while West Texas Intermediate eased about 69 cents to $85.05 in intraday trading, a 22-month low, before ending flat at $85.74.

Behind the drop: Iraq joined Saudi Arabia and Iran's recent price-cutting spree. The key members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are undercutting other exporters' prices and maintaining production or even boosting output as global demand is slowing and North America oil production surged.

Brent crude is down nearly 24% and West Texas Crude 20% from peaks in mid-June.

Monday's crude oil selloff pushed U.S. wholesale gas prices for mid-November delivery down 0.60% to about $2.24 a gallon. That should bring more relief at the gas pump, where U.S. prices — averaging $3.19 a gallon — have dropped 21 cents in the past month and are likely to drop an additional 20 cents or more by early November.

Seven states — Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kansas, Minnesota — average sub-$3-a-gallon gas. Arkansas, Alabama, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia, New Mexico, Ohio, Louisiana and Delaware could fall below those levels by the weekend.

"The decrease in gas prices and what's going on with crude oil has been nothing short of dramatic as it leads to pump prices we haven't seen in some areas of the country since late 2010,'' says Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for gasbuddy.com. "Motorists will be saving billions as holiday shopping looms. What good timing."

This isn't the best of times for energy stocks, particularly drillers, which were hammered again Monday. Among the losers: Goodrich Petroleum, down 29% to $7.65; Halcon, off 16% to $2.51; Concho Resources, off 7% to $97.92; Chesapeake Energy, off 6% to $17.83; Hess, down 6% to $77.78; and Halliburton, down 7.4% to $50.26.

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