Average US gas prices to plunge to $2.50 per gallon

(AP) — The U.S. economy will receive an outsized benefit from lower oil prices because the U.S. is the world’s largest oil consumer.

The bottom should come between $2.50 and $2.70 a gallon says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

U.S. consumers have been surprised and delighted at the lowest gasoline prices since 2010. Drivers in some low-cost states such as South Carolina, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas could see prices below $2, according to Kloza.

The U.S. national average was $2.79 on Friday. Kloza expects gas to eventually be a full $1 per gallon below its June peak of about $3.70 a gallon. That would save typical households $60 a month for those that burn 60 gallons of fuel.

“It’s a nice easy, calculation,” Kloza says. “These are numbers that we would have regarded three or four months ago as something from the lunatic fringe.”