By Paul Chavez
The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Lower oil prices and a boost in gasoline production have prompted the year's first drop in gas prices, with the nation's average price dropping 6 1/2 cents per gallon over the last two weeks, an industry analyst said Sunday.

The weighted national average price for all three grades of gasoline fell to $2.04 per gallon on Friday after having risen more than 59 cents since mid-December, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the biweekly Lundberg Survey of nearly 8,000 U.S. gas stations.

"Whether for the rest of the summer gas prices will continue to trend down depends on OPEC's follow-through to increase oil output and how strong our gasoline demand turns out to be," Lundberg said. "We always consume the most in June, July and August."

The drop at the pump also reflects an effort by refiners to maximize gasoline production to meet summer demands, Lundberg said.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies more than a third of the world's crude oil, announced this month that it will raise its official daily production quota by more than 2 million barrels to 26 million barrels and, if necessary, by an additional 500,000 barrels on Aug. 1.

Crude oil prices, which had been hovering above $40 a barrel in recent weeks, closed last week at $38.45 a barrel.

The national weighted average price of a gallon of gasoline at self-serve pumps on Friday, including taxes, was about $2.01 for regular, $2.11 for midgrade and $2.20 for premium.

Tulsa, Okla., had the lowest average price of any city, with self-serve regular selling for about $1.75. The highest prices were found in the San Francisco Bay area at $2.32, Lundberg said.