LOS ANGELES (AP) – The average price of a gallon of gas fell close to 7 cents in the past two weeks – the second drop in a row after months of increases, an industry analyst said Sunday.

The national average price for all three grades of gasoline fell 6.6 cents to $1.97 per gallon Friday, said analyst Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of nearly 8,000 gas stations nationwide. Self-serve regular averaged $1.94 a gallon.

The price of gas fell about 6.5 cents in the two weeks before June 11, after rising more than 59 cents since mid-December, Lundberg said.

The recent price drop was due in part to falling oil prices and the completion of U.S. refinery maintenance projects in preparation for summer gasoline demand, Lundberg said.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil futures set for August delivery ended trading at $37.55 a barrel Friday, down from $38.45 a barrel two weeks earlier. Crude oil prices had risen above $40 a barrel in previous weeks.

It was unclear whether gas prices would continue to fall, Lundberg said. OPEC has decided to increase oil production in July, but fears of terrorism and sabotage in Iraq and Saudi Arabia could push oil prices higher, she said.

The national weighted average price of a gallon of gasoline at self-serve pumps on Friday, including taxes, was about $2.04 for midgrade and $2.13 for premium.

The most expensive gas in the country was in San Francisco, where regular unleaded sold for $2.27 a gallon. The cheapest was in Tulsa, Okla., where gas was $1.69.

AP-ES-06-27-04 1852EDT