Over the past two weeks gasoline prices in the United States have dropped 53 cents with analysts predicting a continued, albeit slower, decline.

On Friday, October 24, the national per gallon price of a gallon of self-serve unleaded was $2.78, down from $3.31 on October 10 and a far cry from the record $4.11 set on July 11.

The drop from the first of the month was the largest decline in the sixty years the nationwide Lundberg Survey of fuel prices has been conducted, according to Trilby Lundberg.

Lundberg said the lower prices are attributable ot the falling price of crude oil as to greatly reduced consumer demand. "It is those same two factors that will decide what gasoline prices do from here. I think they will probably keep falling, but more slowly," said Lundberg.

On Friday, crude was selling at $64.15 at market close, down from $147 a barrel in July. "The price of oil doesn't seem likely to jump up substantially any time soon and, considering the U.S. economy, it seems likely that oil prices will stay in their current neighborhood," said Lundberg.

The least expensive gasoline in the U.S. was for sale in Wichita, Kansas at $2.26 with the most expensive in Anchorage, Alaska at $3.50 and in Honolulu, Hawaii at $3.48.