The headline from The Associated Press caught my eye online today right after I noticed that gasoline prices in Amarillo had spiked 17 cents per gallon overnight.

The AP story tells of how gas prices might fall below $3 per gallon by year’s end.

So help me God Almighty, the roller-coaster ride that gas prices take makes me want to hold on with both hands.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2c0f0dde26a5468587b4976af7818573/gas-prices-falling-headed-below-3-much-us

Our gas prices had been falling steadily over the course of the past month. They hit $3.02 per gallon of unleaded gas — until last night.

Then the prices shot back up in the biggest overnight spike I’d seen in some time: 17 cents.

Now we hear about further declines? In “some parts of the country”? Gas prices will fall below $3 per gallon?

This is the new normal, friends.

Back when it gas hit the then-unheard of price of $3 per gallon, oil experts were talking about $5 gasoline. One of the was none other than the legendary Texas Panhandle oilman Boone Pickens. He was among those predicting very expensive gas. It hasn’t happened.

Now it appears the price is going the other way.

AP reports that fall is a time when prices usually decline. Refiners switch to cheaper grades of oil. Lately, though, we’ve seen greater automotive fuel efficiency, more alterative energy production and conservation at many levels. All of this results in greater supply as demand declines.

The global price decline is a different matter. AP reports: “The drop in global crude oil prices is a surprise. Despite increasing violence and turmoil in the Middle East, the world’s most important oil-producing region, the global price of oil has fallen to $97 a barrel, close to its lowest level in more than two years.”

Maybe the overnight spike in the heart of Oil Country is an aberration. Let’s hope so, OK?