Thanksgiving gas prices lowest in 7 years

Gasoline prices heading into Thanksgiving in the United States are the lowest they’ve been in seven years, federal researchers said.

As of Monday, the national average price of gasoline was $2.09 a gallon, 73 cents cheaper than the same time last year and the lowest for that time since 2008, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday.

{mosads}The low prices are due to a number of factors, but the biggest is the massive decrease in international crude oil prices over the last year and a half.

Thanksgiving is one of the top driving seasons of the year, rivaling Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of the summer driving season.

Auto group AAA estimates that 46.9 million people will travel more than 50 miles from home between Wednesday and Sunday surrounding Thanksgiving this year, and 42 million of them will travel by car.

That’s a 0.6 percent increase in long-distance drivers over last year, and the highest since 2007, AAA said.

EIA said it expects the price of gasoline to decline through the remainder of 2015, and to average $2.06 a gallon in December.