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VALDOSTA, Ga. — Gasoline prices stabilized in Lowndes County during the last week, barely budging after taking a sizable dip the previous week.

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in Valdosta Saturday was $2.01, down only a penny from seven days before, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

The lowest price in town Saturday for gasoline was $1.85, unchanged from the previous week, at a store on U.S. 84, according to the price tracking website gasbuddy.com. 

Nationally, Saturday’s average gasoline price was $2.12, down from $2.15 the previous week, while Georgia’s average price of $2.09 also hadn’t budged from seven days earlier, the auto club said.

In market action, oil prices fell sharply Friday. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.90, or 4 percent, to $46.06 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost $1.90, or 3.9 percent, to $47.10 in London.

Investors pushed prices up earlier in the week, but are on edge in anticipation of a meeting of OPEC nations next week. They are meeting to possibly hammer out an agreement on meaningful output cuts.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline fell 5 cents to $1.37 a gallon, heating oil lost 5 cents to $1.47 a gallon and natural gas rose 6 cents to $3.09 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.