Gas prices edge lower

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Oil sinks nearly 3% after jobs report Oil slips below $80 Oil recovers to post gains Oil slides on weak consumer data Oil climbs 3% on GDP growth Oil prices fall below $78

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Gasoline prices dropped Saturday after four straight days of increases, according to a daily survey of gas station credit card swipes.

Regular unleaded fell 0.02 cents to a national average of $1.671 a gallon from Friday's $1.673, according to motorist group AAA.

A week ago, gas prices started rising for the first time in nearly three months, according to AAA. They briefly retreated before resuming their upward climb through most of this week.

Gasoline prices have largely dropped along with the price of crude oil, which has lost more than $100 a barrel since hitting a record high of $147.27 in July. Gas prices also hit a record of $4.114 a gallon in July.

The global economic slowdown has put a clamp on demand. In the United States, the world's largest oil consumer, supplies have risen as drivers have cut back. According to a Transportation Department report earlier this month, Americans drove 100 billion fewer miles between November 2007 and October 2008, compared with a year earlier.

Local prices: Gas is currently selling below $2 a gallon in almost every state, with the exception of Alaska, where prices averaged $2.622 a gallon, and Hawaii, where gas was $2.397 on average.

Wyoming had the cheapest prices, on average, at $1.470 a gallon, according to AAA. Its next-door neighbor, Utah, was second-lowest with $1.476.

Out of major U.S. cities, Anchorage, Alaska, had the highest average gas prices, at $2.369 a gallon, according to GasBuddy.com, a service that lets motorists post local fuel prices online. Salt Lake City, Utah, had the lowest average, at $1.381.

Diesel: The price of diesel fuel, which is used in most trucks and commercial vehicles, fell Saturday by 0.06 cents to a national average of $2.513 a gallon, according to AAA.

Diesel prices have fallen more than $2 a gallon since hitting a record high of $4.845 on July 17.

Ethanol: The price of E85, an 85% ethanol blend made primarily from corn, fell by 0.01 cents to an average of $1.498 a gallon in Saturday's survey, according to AAA.

E85 can be used in place of regular gas in specially configured "flex-fuel" vehicles, but it is not readily available in some states.

The AAA figures are state-wide averages based on credit card swipes at up to 100,000 service stations across the nation. GasBuddy prices are averages of local regular unleaded gasoline prices that about 700,000 volunteer gas prices spotters have posted online. Individual drivers may see lower fuel prices in different areas of each state.