MINNEAPOLIS — Low gasoline prices for Labor Day weekend have taken a load off Minnesota motorists’ wallets as they make their final summer trips and send their kids off to college.

GasBuddy.com reported the average price in the Twin Cities area and statewide at $2.37 per gallon Saturday, down 94 cents from a year ago. That’s not the lowest price Minnesota motorists have seen at the pump this year, however. Regular gas briefly dipped below $2 per gallon in January and peaked in late July at $2.79.

Nationally, average gasoline prices are at their lowest point for a Labor Day weekend since 2004, a result of low oil prices and a quiet hurricane season that has allowed Gulf Coast refineries to churn out fuel. Crude oil prices have plunged because producers are still furiously pumping oil.

Tara Albaugh had several reasons to smile when she filled the tank of her band-new Dodge Grand Caravan for the very first time Friday.

Her two young children love the new minivan. Their trips around town have been “joy rides.” And the price of gas was $2.39 per gallon at the Minnoco in her Minneapolis neighborhood.

“Anytime I see a price that begins with a 2 I am happy, and it’s really nice to see it below $2.50,” Albaugh said as she pumped the cheap fuel.

Low prices are expected to stay around for a while, barring unexpected disruption, such as a refinery outage. Two weeks ago, BP restored its giant Whiting, Indiana, refinery to full production, ending an outage that had caused prices to spike in Chicago and that sent ripples as far as Minnesota.

Patrick DeHaan, an oil analyst for GasBuddy, said Minnesota prices could dip below $2 per gallon by late December.

Gasoline demand typically drops after Labor Day as summer travel season winds down, keeping downward pressure on prices even as refineries cut output to perform maintenance.