Oil plunges to a 6-year low. Is $30 a barrel next?

Crude plunged 4% to as low as $42.85 a barrel on Monday. That's the lowest price since March 2009 and marks the fifth consecutive day of losses.

This should bring smiles to the faces of the millions of American drivers who have watched gasoline prices creep higher in recent weeks.

A month ago, people were talking about an "oil comeback." Now that looks like just a mirage. More and more analysts predict prices of $40 or lower, at least in the near term.

"I think the market almost has to have a $30-handle on it before it gets this out of its system," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

That could cause gas prices to take another tumble, Kloza says, bringing the average U.S. price back to around $2 a gallon. It's currently at $2.42.

What's fueling the latest plunge? The world still has too much oil. The supply glut that sparked the dramatic crash in crude from $100 a barrel last summer to under $50 in January remains. Oil settled at $43.88 on Monday.

The key now is to see a pullback in production, but so far no one wants to budge. OPEC hasn't scaled back production, and power player Saudi Arabia continues to say it has no intention to do so.

In the U.S., shale companies also continue to pump more and more oil. While there are signs that the number of oil drilling rigs has fallen significantly in recent weeks, there's a lag before that drop in rigs really translates into less production.

(CNN)