When Americans take to the road this Thanksgiving holiday they will be paying about 6% less for gasoline than they paid a year ago. That’s because the price of crude oil has fallen. Increased oil production due to fracking–the technology that breaks up shale rock buried deep inside the earth to release oil and natural gas reserves–has boosted U.S. oil output, and, in turn, reduced prices. Crude oil is trading near $93 a barrel, a five-month low, and gasoline prices are averaging $3.21 a gallon for regular unleaded, according to AAA. Natural gas is trading at $3.55 per million BTU, a few cents below the year-ago price. What happens next to oil prices will, as always, depend on supply and demand fundamentals…and politics. For crude oil, “the floor is established by the costs of these unconventional resources…at $60 or $70″ a barrel,” says […]