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WASHINGTON — With crude oil prices falling over the last month, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has lowered the average regular gasoline retail price forecast for the third quarter of 2012 to $3.39 per gallon, according to the agency’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook.

EIA expects these prices, which averaged $3.53 per gallon in 2011, to average $3.49 per gallon in 2012 and $3.28 per gallon in 2013.

U.S. total crude oil production is expected to average 6.3 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2012, an increase of 0.6 million bbl/d from last year, and the highest level of production since 1997.

EIA projects the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil spot price to average about $88 per barrel over the second half of 2012 and the U.S. refiner acquisition cost (RAC) of crude oil to average $93 per barrel, both about $7 per barrel lower than last month’s Outlook.

Natural gas prices continue to remain low, thanks to record-high working inventories. Those inventories ended June at an estimated 3.1 trillion cubic feet, or about 23% above the same time last year. EIA expects the Henry Hub natural gas spot price, which averaged $4 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2011, to average $2.58 per MMBtu in 2012 and $3.22 per MMBtu in 2013.

WASHINGTON — As working natural gas inventories continue to set new seasonal record highs amid an unusually warm winter, January spot prices hit the lowest average monthly price since 2002, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook report. The natural gas spot prices averaged $2.67 per MMBtu at the Henry Hub in January, down $0.50 per MMBtu from the December 2011 average, the report says.

Abundant storage levels, as well as ample supply, have contributed to the recent low prices, EIA says. The agency expects the Henry Hub spot price will begin to recover after this winter’s inventory draw season ends and will average $3.35 per MMBtu in 2012 and $4.07 per MMBtu in 2013, down $0.18 per MMBtu and $0.07 per MMBtu from last month’s Outlook, respectively.

EIA expects that natural gas consumption will average 68.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2012, an increase of 1.6 Bcf/d (2.4 percent) from 2011.

Regular-grade gasoline retail prices averaged $3.53 per gallon in 2011, according to the report, which was $0.74 per gallon (27 percent) higher than the 2010 average. EIA expects the regular-grade gasoline retail price to average $3.55 per gallon in 2012. Forecast regular-grade gasoline prices increase to an average $3.59 per gallon in 2013.

WASHINGTON — With natural gas working inventories remaining at record highs, the average 2012 Henry Hub spot price forecast stands at nearly 50 cents per MMBtu below the 2011 average price, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook report released Tuesday.

EIA’s average 2012 Henry Hub natural gas price forecast is $3.53 per MMBtu. The agency expects that spot prices will average $4.14 per MMBtu in 2013.

Inventories at the end of 2011 were an estimated 3.5 trillion cubic feet, about 12% above the same time the previous year.

Average household heating oil expenditures are expected to increase 4% this winter heating season (Oct. 1 to March 31) compared with last winter. In contrast, natural gas and propane expenditures are projected to decline by 7% and 1%, respectively, and electricity expenditures are 2% lower than last winter’s levels.

EIA expects regular-grade gasoline retail prices to average $3.48 per gallon this year, 4 cents per gallon lower than 2011, and $3.55 per gallon in 2013.

WASHINGTON — The Henry Hub spot price averaged $4.05 per MMBtu in August, 37 cents lower than the July average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest Short-Term Energy Outlook report. This month’s report lowers the 2011 forecast by 4 cents to $4.20 per MMBtu and lowers the 2012 forecast by 11 cents to $4.30 per MMBtu, the report says.

Part of this downturn is due to natural gas consumption for electric power generation falling from 29.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in July to 29.2 Bcf/d in August, as July’s extreme temperatures eased, EIA says. Still, the administration expects that total natural gas consumption will grow by 1.8% to 67.3 Bcf/d in 2011.

The outlook is better for route drivers as well, with regular-grade gasoline retail prices falling by 40 cents per gallon from their peak this year of $3.97 per gallon on May 9 to $3.57 per gallon on June 27, EIA says. Gasoline retail prices stabilized in July and August with weekly retail prices averaging between $3.58 per gallon and $3.71 per gallon, but are projected to fall to an average $3.47 per gallon in the fourth quarter 2011 after refiners switch production from summer-grade gasoline to lower-cost winter-grade gasoline.

EIA expects U.S. refiner average crude oil acquisition cost will average $100 per barrel in 2011 and $103 per barrel in 2012. But energy price forecasts are highly uncertain, the report says.

WASHINGTON — Natural-gas inventories are expected to remain high through 2011, resulting in an average Henry Hub natural-gas spot price of $4.16 per million Btu (MMBtu) for the year, $0.22 per MMBtu lower than the 2010 average, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest short-term energy outlook.

EIA also expects that total natural-gas consumption will remain flat through 2011. Residential and commercial consumption are expected to decline by 0.3% and 2.4% respectively, primarily because of changes to EIA’s methodology for collecting and reporting natural-gas consumption data.