Gasoline prices may have hit summer peak and could be headed below $4

Gasoline prices may have peaked for the summer and are now heading toward $4 per gallon, but all bets are off if there’s a hurricane or other disruption that sends oil prices much higher or crimps fuel supplies. 

The national average for unleaded gasoline was $4.467 per gallon Wednesday; prices have steadily declined from a high of $5.01 nationally on June 14, according to AAA. Weekly data on gasoline demand from the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, suggests drivers have cut back on gasoline use, and tight supplies are improving.

“I spoke to three big chain retailers. … They all said of demand in the last three weeks, we’re down 5% or 6% from the same weeks last year,” said…