PENA FORECASTS 10-CENT LOWER GAS PRICES THAN LAST SUMMER.(MAIN)

Byline: EUN LEE KOH Times Union Washington bureau

WASHINGTON -- Gasoline prices are expected to remain low this summer despite recent attempts by foreign oil producers to curtail production, Energy Secretary Federico Pena said Wednesday.

Pena, citing a new Energy Department report, said at a news conference that the price of regular unleaded gasoline will average $1.10 per gallon in June through August, a 10-cent drop from 1997.

That would be the largest drop in summer gasoline prices in 12 years. The last large price decrease was in 1986 when prices fell more than 20 cents from those of the previous summer.

Pena said that when inflation is …