(Radio Iowa) – While there’s still much volatility in the market due to violence in the Middle East, gasoline prices are falling in Iowa as we reach November. Brian Ortner, spokesman for Triple-A-Iowa, says the costs motorists are paying are continuing a slow decline. “The average across the state is $3.20 a gallon, which is great news for us,” Ortner says. “If we look a week ago, we were 10-cents more at $3.30. A month ago, we were 28 cents higher, so definitely good news to see the prices at the pumps are going down.”

A host of factors go into gasoline prices, including the weather, disasters and world events. “The biggest component of that, obviously, is the price of crude oil. That makes up more than 55% the cost of a gallon of gas, when it gets through all the processing,” Ortner says. “Here’s that month difference, we look a month ago, crude was trading about $92-$93 per barrel. Today, we’re about $82 per barrel.”

Now that summer is solidly in the rearview mirror, Ortner say pump prices should keep dropping. “We’re moving into the fall and winter months, which means we’re driving less, so that means the demand is lower,” Ortner says, “so that’ll help decrease those costs as well, and as we move towards the holidays, we expect to see the decline continue.”

Triple-A says the cheapest gas in the state can be purchased in Des Moines at three-12 a gallon, while the most expensive gas is in Dubuque at three-41.