Oil Dips Below $60; Gas In U.S. Now at $2.38 (AP)

  Sept. 25, 2006 -- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Crude-oil futures dipped below $60 a barrel Monday and the average retail price of gasoline nationwide is now $2.38 a gallon, the lowest level since March.

  Before long, average U.S. pump prices could be just pennies away from $2 a gallon, analysts say.

  While that would no doubt be a relief for U.S. motorists who had paid more than $3 a gallon this summer, gasoline is still about 70 percent more expensive than it was at the start of autumn just a few years ago.

  Indeed, the petroleum industry is still raking in huge profits by any measure, though the recent slide in oil and natural gas prices has taken some of the froth out of energy company stock prices.

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