Gasoline Prices Expected To Start Dropping

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And gas prices are on the rise again - speaking of autos. Since the beginning of July, the average price for regular gasoline in the U.S. has gone up more than 50 cents, which makes the national average just under $3.90 a gallon.

Though NPR's Jeff Brady has some good news, prices are likely to go down soon.

JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Americans tend to drive more in the summer and higher demand for gas usually sends prices up. But Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with the Oil Price Information Service, says this year it looks like drivers put off their summer trips.

TOM KLOZA: Unlike other summers where, perhaps, the driving was front-end loaded, this year was a little back-end loaded and there was a lot more vacation travel towards the end of August and in the week after Labor Day.

BRADY: So April through July this year, prices actually declined. Over the past two months, they've been going back up.

KLOZA: I think the good news is that we are peaking again and we should see lower prices in the last 100 days of the year, as is typical for most years.

BRADY: Kloza says don't expect lower prices right away. But he suspects that by November prices may fall to around $3.50 a gallon.

KLOZA: Jeff Brady, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.