NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The recent drop in prices at the pump could pick up steam, driving gasoline sharply lower in coming months.

"I'd say $2 to $2.50," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. "Once you get past Sept. 15, it's really a downhill game."

Kloza said so far the average cost of a gallon of gas peaked this year at $3.036 on Aug. 10 and has come down largely due to diminishing hurricane fears.

"There's just nothing happening in the tropics, and the market had priced in all sorts of calamities," he said.

The motorist organization AAA reported a nationwide average of $2.82 Tuesday, the lowest since April 20.

Online gasoline price survey site Gasbuddy.com shows Wednesday's national average at $2.80.

Another analyst pointed to a 60-cent drop in wholesale and spot prices the last few weeks, noting consumers should see a similar drop in retail prices in the coming few weeks as the decline works its way through the market. The drop would translate to retail gasoline prices of around $2.50 to $2.60 a gallon.

"The levels that were in place were never justified to begin with," said Mark Gilman, an analyst with The Benchmark Co. "This is a bit of a return to reality."

Gilman said retail gasoline prices of around $2 a barrel by Thanksgiving were certainly possible, although not likely.

He said crude prices would need to drop by about $20 a barrel to have that effect, and he just didn't see any major catalyst that would cause such a decline over the next three months.

Kloza said several factors are behind the recent gasoline price declines: the end of the summer driving season, which reduces consumer demand for gasoline as well as the end of seasonal federal requirements on gas that makes the cost of importing and refining it cheaper.

The price of gasoline's main component, crude oil, has also slipped in recent days.

Crude oil, accounting for about half the price of gasoline, closed below $70 a barrel Tuesday for the first time since June 20.





Also, if you go to www.gasbuddy.com, you can type in your own area to see what the average is for your area. I thought it was pretty cool, but at the same time sucked, cause my area is higher than most places, and I live in South Dakota damnit! We're a crappy state with a low population, we should be cheaper than the big cities, but overall the state is ranked among the highest....

Yeah I saw gas stations in our area with gas for $1.08/litre. I haven't seen it below 1.10 for a long time.

are you sure its litre? that is still roughly 3.30 a gallon..which is extremely high if thats stateside...

if its state side would it really be a liter?.. besides Ally is canadian, I believe, and please correct me if im wrong, but gas is a bit more expensive there?

I have also notice the gas prices falling, I have been seeing prices under 3$ lately and that seems very odd.. kinda strange since i can remeber when it was like 1.5$...

i thought canadian gas was cheaper than stateside gas...who knows..

Ally, are you from canada?

Yeah gas here has dropped a bit from $2.90 a gal to $2.55-$2.60

woot! gas is 2.59 a gallon here

Still nice and high over $3 bucks here up in SD. Even worse when you drive a turbo and cant put anything but premium in it and that costs like $3.35. The state is split by the missouri river, and we are on the west side, and the east half of the state is WAY lower. Nobody understands why...

It is 2.65 a gallon here........now i will show my age, I can remember when it was 25 cents a gallon during gas wars LOL

I remember when I got my license 11 years ago, it was teetering around .99-1.03 a gallon, wow times have changed in such a short time..

2.68 a gallon as of this morning in Illinois

would you believe I remember back when gas was around .68 a gallon LOL