Look for gas prices to keep ebbing

Driving to your Thanksgiving holiday destination won’t be as expensive as last year.

Jeff Pelton, an analyst with GasBuddy.com, said it’s costing a lot less to gas up your car in New Jersey than it did last Thanksgiving.

“We are 76 cents cheaper. A year ago, the price in New Jersey was $2.71. Currently we’re looking at a price of $1.95. So that’s just an incredible drop on a year-to-year basis,” he said. “The good news is that price is going to get better.”

Refinery maintenance this month lasted longer than usual, Pelton said, but gasoline production is picking up again. And an increase in supply should further lower costs.

He reiterated earlier predictions that prices at some gas stations could drop to $1.50 gallon by Christmas.

“There’s a good potential you’ll see a handful of places at that price,” he said. “If it’s not hit in December, we’re going to hit that $1.50 in January.”

Pelton said he believes gas stations are motivated to move prices lower.

While “2014 was probably one of the best years retailers saw, 2015 has not been the burner that 2014 was,” he said. “There’s going to be incentive for them to end their year on a high note. There will be downward bias on them to lower their prices to bring that business in.”