Jacksonville gas prices are down about ten cents a gallon from last week, and one expert tells us the trend should continue.

Last Monday the average price for a gallon of regular gas in Jacksonville was $3.66.  A week later the price is $3.56.  In the same week, the national average has gone from $3.76 to $3.66.

“Well there’s no question that fuel prices are finally coming down as we expected them to with the fall weather,” said Gregg Laskoski, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com.

Jacksonville is four cents below the Florida state average, which is $3.60.

He says prices usually drop around this time as refineries switch to a winter blend of gasoline which is cheaper to produce.

In the spring around March, April and May, he says prices usually go up as refineries switch black to the more costly summer blend of gasoline.

Laskoski dismissed the idea that prices are fixed to drop right now because of the Presidential Election.

“That’s absolutely nonsense,” he said.  “I can also tell you that whoever gets elected in November will undoubtedly be vilified by April or May.  He’ll be blamed for the rising gas prices that we see every spring.”

Laskoski says the prices consistently work “like clockwork.”  Winter blend and summer blend gasoline are required by federal regulations.

“So it’s really got nothing to do with politics but a lot to do with bureaucratic red tape,” he said.

He predicts that prices will continue to fall in the weeks ahead, but it the rate they fall may slow down a bit.

“What’s more likely to happen in the weeks ahead is that we see incremental declines.  Not really dramatic ones but certainly going in the right direction.”

He says the prediction can always be thrown off by an outburst of violence in the Middle East, especially between Israel and Iran.

“All year long we’ve been h earing that Iran and Israel are close to engaging in a military conflict with each other,” Laskoski said.

As long as things can be kept relatively peaceful in the Middle East, then Laskoski thinks we will see even lower prices at the pump in the near future.

All gas price data gathered from GasBuddy.com