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American Morning

AAA Spokesman: Gas Price Highs in Rearview Mirror

Aired June 25, 2001 - 10:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Up until now, hitting the road meant taking a hit in the pocketbook or the wallet, but things may be changing. A national survey of the oil industry shows that abundant supplies are driving down gas prices. The national average has dropped nearly a dime a gallon over the past two weeks.

For a closer look at the drop and the ripple effect, let's turn now to our guest, Geoff Sundstrom. He's a spokesman for AAA Motor Club. He joins us on the phone from Heathrow, Georgia.

What do you make of this right now?

GEOFF SUNDSTROM, SPOKESMAN, AAA: Well, we're, of course, happy to see the prices falling. They are following downward movement in the wholesale price of gasoline. So we believe that prices should continue to fall a bit further.

HARRIS: Last hour, we spoke with a colleague of yours, who said perhaps conservation efforts by people across the country may have made the big difference here. Would you agree with that?

SUNDSTROM: That's part of the reason. The other thing is we're watching the U.S. economy continue to slow down, and of course, a big part of the gasoline consumption in the United States has to do with the movement of products and goods across the country. So demand for gasoline may be slowing as the U.S. economy slows, and this is a factor in bringing down the prices.

HARRIS: As far as the prices go, how much good news should we expect here? How low will they go?

SUNDSTROM: If I knew that, I'd be a fuels trader, but I think that we should continue to see prices come down a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if we got to a national average price of $1.50 a gallon.

HARRIS: Which region of the country has seen the most relief? Has the Midwest, because I know they're been getting hit the hardest over the last couple of years?

SUNDSTROM: That's correct. The area that's seeing the most relief is the Midwest and the Great Lakes area, because their prices went the highest. And as their supplies of reformulated gasolines have continued to increase, their prices have come down substantially.

HARRIS: Finally, do you expect this trend to continue, or is there going to be an upturn sometime down the road?

SUNDSTROM: The price of gas is subject to so many overseas influences seas influences -- Middle Eastern politics and what OPEC does, etcetera -- but based on the slowness of economy, the fact that gasoline inventories are building, we think we've seen the highest prices for the summer in the rearview mirror.

HARRIS: That means more traffic this summer. That could be a good thing.

Geoff Sundstrom of AAA, we thank you very much for your time this morning.

SUNDSTROM: Thank you. Bye-bye.

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