Gasoline to fall below W1,900 per liter

The 1,900-won gas price is expected to slide even lower soon, due to the “stable international oil price,” industry sources said on Thursday.

The sources said the 1,900 won-per-liter mark is expected to go down at any moment as the dip is likely to continue for a while.

Thursday’s price of regular gasoline fell to its lowest since March 6, 2011, according to data. 

Opinet, an online service provider of oil prices under the state-run Korea National Oil Corp., reported Thursday that the nation’s average regular gas price fell to 1,902.37 won ($1.67) per liter, about 4.05 won lower than a day earlier.

A KNOC official said, “The price of oil products will generally continue to drop at least in a short while, although things might get complicated with the Iranian oil issue.”

The decline of oil prices has continued for 74 days since April 22, when it was priced at 2,062.42 won per liter.

On Tuesday, the average price of regular gasoline per liter was lowest in Gwangju at 1,877.08 won, followed by Daegu at 1,881.31 won, Jeju Island at 1,888.46 won and Ulsan at 1,893.03 won. The price was highest in Seoul, at 1,974.10.

Aside from regular gasoline, diesel and kerosene dipped to their lowest prices this year, at 1,728.05 won and 1,365.22 won, respectively. Premium gasoline also dropped to 2,170.44 won Tuesday, down about 2.76 won overnight.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)