Springfield-area consumers get some relief at the pump as prices drop below $5

After hitting record peaks in June, gas prices across the area have fallen below $5.

According to AAA Friday, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Springfield was $4.77 a gallon, in line with the national average of $4.72 a gallon and down nearly 50 cents from the record set on June 11 of $5.28 a gallon.

Adjusted for inflation, the record-high cost in June had not been seen since the late 2000s-early 2010, when the country was recovering from the Great Recession.

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A decline in oil prices contributed to the drop at the pump, with the price of crude oil falling below $100 earlier this week. It had reached a peak of $123.70 in March, with prices hitting $122.11 on June 8. While prices have gone up by five cents over the course of the week, they have not hit the peaks seen earlier in the spring.

Molly Hart, a spokesperson for AAA, said that fears of a global recession have scared investors who may have pushed the cost of oil higher.

"If prices hold or drop even more, drivers could see prices go down a bit more," Hart said.

Lower demand also has led to some relief, even as a record number of people went out on the roads for the 4th of July weekend. Hart said that many travelers may have decided to stay closer to home for a weekend getaway instead of taking a big trip.

"Some of them (may) have been planning to go out west to one of the monuments or something (but) because of the high gas prices, they chose to stay closer to home instead of doing that big road trip," Hart said.

While prices in central Illinois have fallen below $5, Illinois' state average remains stubbornly high, with prices hitting $5.20 a gallon for regular unleaded, 35 cents less than where it was a month ago.

Higher prices in the Chicago area are driving up the state average with unleaded at $5.82 a gallon in the city and $5.55 a gallon in the rest of Chicagoland. Both of those declines are less than what has been seen in other parts of the state, dropping 20 cents from where it was a month ago.

Variations in the gas tax have contributed to this disparity, with Hart crediting the more stringent surcharges placed on prices in Chicago for pushing prices higher there.

"In Chicago, certainly the taxes play a role for the fact that they look a lot higher than they do in other parts of the state," Hart said.

How much people will pay for gas both locally and across the nation for the rest of the summer will depend on how oil prices move over the course of the next few weeks and months. If prices go back up again, it could mean the return of high prices and additional pain for people at the pump.

"It's still an extremely volatile market," Hart said. "We've seen oil prices rebound so many times over the course of the last several months, so it could happen again through the rest of the summer."

Contact Zach Roth: (217) 899-4338; ZDRoth@gannett.com; @ZacharyRoth13

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield-area gas prices drop following lower oil prices