The average price of regular gasoline in the United States reported a decline in the last two weeks, undercut by plunging crude oil prices as a glut of petroleum products, an industry analyst revealed on Sunday.

The nationwide Lundberg survey involving 5,000 gas stations suggested that the national average for self-serve, regular unleaded gasoline was $2.66 a gallon on Feb. 5, reduced from 5.76 cents from Jan. 22.

"This was very quick for the retail price to respond" to crude prices, she said. "Although there are forces such as the weak (U. S.) dollar that can push oil prices up, the dominant trend seems to be the glut of petroleum ... stemming directly from the recession and the reduced number of employed people", posted survey editor Trilby Lundberg.

Gasoline for March delivery witnessed a fall of 4.4 percent to $1.8864 a gallon on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the two weeks ended Feb. 5. Futures have lost 12 percent in four weeks.

In addition, the demand fell for the fourth time in five weeks to 8.61 million barrels a day. While, Refiners operated at 77.7 percent of capacity, the lowest figure since at least 1989, excluding two hurricane strikes along the Gulf of Mexico.

Also, it is cited that the chances for the prices to soak up any time soon is very less, probably leading to lower gasoline prices in coming weeks.

The new national average is nearly 75 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.