By John McCrank
NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States dropped 12 cents in the past three weeks to its lowest point in nearly a year, driven by the latest round of falling oil prices, according to the Lundberg survey released on Sunday.
Prices fell to an average of $3.26 per gallon for regular grade gasoline, according to the survey conducted on Oct. 10. Prices have fallen for the past 16 weeks, survey publisher Trilby Lundberg said.
The price of a gallon is nearly 13 cents below what it was a year ago and is at its lowest point since Nov. 22, she added. The price peaked on May 2 and is down 46.5 cents since then.
Crude oil prices have fallen over the past several months to near four-year lows, pressured by ample supply and concerns about the strength of the global economy.
That has translated into buying discounts for refiners, which have in turn slashed their wholesale gasoline prices, Lundberg said.
"These have been deep and fast wholesale gasoline price cuts and retailers have yet to pass the entire price cut through," she said. "We can expect another several cents at the pump in the next few days," she said, adding that would change if oil prices were to suddenly rise.
The San Francisco Bay Area had the highest price within the survey area, at $3.66 per gallon for regular, while the lowest price was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where regular grade cost $2.93 per gallon. (Reporting by John McCrank in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)