(Bloomberg) -- American drivers are within shouting distance of$1.50 a gallon for the first time since 2009.

Thanks to a glut of oil that has spurred refiners to make asmuch fuel as they can, pump prices nationwide are down about 26cents a gallon from a year ago, which is translating into almost$80 million a day in savings for U.S. drivers, according toMichael Green, a spokesman in Washington for AAA.

Oklahoma was the first state to drop below $1.50 and has thecheapest prices in the country at $1.489 a gallon, more than 30cents below the national average, AAA data show.

U.S. prices may fall as low as the $1.60s in the next monthbefore rebounding, according to Patrick DeHaan, a Chicago-basedsenior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy Organization, which tracksfilling station prices. "Demand is very weak because of the time ofyear and supplies are the highest in a very long time."

Consumers are benefiting from a 68 percent drop in West TexasIntermediate crude over the past 19 months that has boostedrefiners’ profit margins, encouraging them to produce recordamounts of fuel. WTI dropped to $26.19 a barrel on Jan. 20, thelowest since May 2003.

The average price of regular gasoline nationwide was $1.795 agallon on Sunday, the lowest since January 2009, according toHeathrow, Florida-based AAA, a national federation of motor clubs.Prices reached a record $4.114 in July 2008. Gasoline futurestouched 99.24 cents a gallon on Jan. 27, the lowest in sevenyears.

Consumer sentiment

Americans drove a record number of miles through the first11 months of the year as companies hired workers and fuel pricessank. Gasoline averaged 94 cents a gallon less in 2015 than theprior year and the U.S. unemployment rate fell to the lowest since2008.

"Lower gasoline prices give consumer sentiment a boost," saidMichael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & EconomicResearch in Winchester, Massachusetts. "The drop in pump pricesgives the consumer a little more discretionary income to be spentelsewhere."

Ample supplies have protected against price shocks. Gasolineinventories at 248.5 million barrels as of Jan. 22 were the highestsince 1990.

"Oil supply is very healthy and that’s trickled down to gasolineinventories," DeHaan said.

Seasonal pattern

Gasoline prices should reach their seasonal low in the nextmonth, according to DeHaan and Tim Evans, an energy analyst atCiti Futures Perspective in New York. Refineries will shut forwork, reducing supply, and tighter environmental regulations makegasoline sold in spring and summer more expensive to produce.

Refiners are starting to take units offline already. Plantsoperated at 87.4% of capacity last week, the lowest since October,according to the EIA. Operations have dropped during the firstquarter in eight of the past 10 years.

Even after the seasonal gain, prices should remain lower than inprevious years, Lynch said. U.S. gasoline consumption typicallypeaks and prices climb between the Memorial Day holiday in late Mayand Labor Day in early September, when Americans traditionally takevacations.

"Prices are going to remain low going into summer," said Lynch."There will be a lot of happy drivers heading to the beach andDisneyland this summer. We’ll be enjoying historically low pricesfor a long time."

You’re invited to join us on Facebook!

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.