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Gasoline prices could dip due to coronavirus, production increase, expert says

An increase in production of oil in the Middle East and a decrease due in part to the coronavirus could continue to send gasoline prices tumbling -- perhaps as low as 99 cents, one expert said Monday.

GasBuddy.com analyst Patrick De Haan told Fox News said the national average could soon drop to $1.99 per gallon. He did not rule out prices falling to $1.49 or even 99 cents per gallon.

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Gas prices have been trending sharply downward for the past few weeks, but could go much lower according to GasBuddy.com.

De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, tweeted about the falling prices Wednesday, writing, “It’s been so long since I’ve seen the energy board with so few products over $1/gal.”

The average price in the United States at noon Wednesday was at $2.172 per gallon, according to Gas Buddy. According to the site, 16 states were averaging less than $2 per gallon at noon Wednesday -- Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

Oklahoma had the cheapest average, at $1.876 per gallon, while California had the highest prices in the continental United States, averaging $3.28 per gallon, according to the website. Hawaii had the highest price, at $3.427.

The last time gasoline prices dipped below $1.60 was in December 2008, Fox News reported, falling from a high of $4.10 five months earlier.