DENVER -- Oil and gas distributors predict that regular unleaded gasoline may drop to about $3.10 by October due to lower demand and steady supply.

Speculators had caused a sharp rise in the price of a barrel of crude oil as Hurricane Gustav entered the Gulf of Mexico. But Gustav caused little, if any, damage to oil refineries in the Gulf so prices quickly dropped back to about $109 a barrel.

In addition to that, travel experts say demand for gasoline drops after summer.

"There will be fewer miles traveled during the winter season which usually happens," said AAA spokeswoman Wave Dreher. "We're also projecting that prices may go down as much as 10 cents per gallon."

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in Colorado was $3.77. In Denver the average was $3.68, according to Dreher.

Bryant Gimlin of Fort Lupton-based Gray Oil Co. said he expected prices to drop as low as $3.10 per gallon.

"Of course there are always caveats," said Gimlin. "The price should continue to drop if no other hurricanes hit Gulf refineries and oil producing countries remain stable."

Gimlin said OPEC wouldn't let the price of a barrel of oil fall below $100 a barrel so that's about as low as it will get.

The drop in prices is welcome relief after a summer of record fuel prices.

In July, a barrel of oil peaked at $145 and gas reached nearly $4 a gallon in Colorado. Those high costs affected everything from the price at the pump to the price of food at the store.

"It's affected them quite a bit, " said truck driver Ed Miller. "You go to the store and see how much everything costs compared to even two years ago. It's pretty crazy."