NATIONAL AVERAGE GAS PRICE INCHES UP, OIL CONTINUES TO RALLY
For the third straight week, the nation’s average gas price has increased, rising 2.5 cents from a week ago to $3.28 per gallon yesterday according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country. The national average is up 14.9 cents from a month ago and 2.2 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 7.2 cents in the last week and stands at $4.56 per gallon.
“We’ve seen somewhat of a mixed week at the pump with some states seeing gasoline prices rise, while others have stabilized for the time being. The good news as of late has been the continued decline in average diesel prices, which fell over a penny per day last week,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “Oil prices have seen a bit of a rally, finishing last week at nearly $80 per barrel again as Chinese demand starts to jump as expected, but with Covid cases and deaths now also surging in China, the jump in demand could be short-lived. Gas prices may nudge up slightly in the week ahead in some areas, while others could hold flat. The window on price drops, however, appears to be coming up on the horizon as we get closer to what’s likely to be a significant refinery maintenance period ahead of summer.”
OIL PRICES
Oil markets have seen renewed strength as China sees a boom in demand as Covid restrictions have been eased, with heavy import quotas driving concern that oil markets remain tight. In addition, OPEC has forecast oil demand to rebound more than expected in the months ahead, helping to push the latest rally. At last check, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 35 cents per barrel to $80.21 in early Tuesday trade, up over $4 from last week’s $76.11 per barrel start. Brent crude oil was also in the black, up $1.39 to $85.85 per barrel, a healthy $5 gain from last Monday’s $80.78 per barrel fetch.
According to Baker Hughes, last week’s U.S. rig count was up 3 rigs to 775 and was 174 rigs higher than a year ago. The Canadian rig count rose 38 to 227 and was 36 rigs higher than a year ago.
OIL AND REFINED PRODUCTS
Last week’s report from the Energy Information Administration showed oil inventories skyrocketing as the after-affects from the Arctic blast continued to hold back refineries. Oil inventories surged 19 million barrels and now stand 26.3 million barrels higher than a year ago, while the SPR fell just 800,000 barrels to 371.6 million. Domestic crude oil production rebounded as well, rising 100,000bpd to 12.2 million barrels. Gasoline inventories managed a 4.1 million barrel rise even with refiners struggling as implied gasoline demand remained weak at 7.56 million barrels per day. Distillate inventories fell 1.1 million barrels to a level 9% lower than a year ago. Refinery utilization remained challenged, rising 4.5 percentage points to 84.1%. In addition, oil imports surged 637,000bpd last week while exports plummeted by over 2 million barrels per day, helping to lead to the surge in oil inventories.
FUEL DEMAND
According to GasBuddy demand data driven by its Pay with GasBuddy card, U.S. retail gasoline demand rose 6.2% last week (Sun-Sat) as demand further rebounded after a holiday lull. Broken down by PADD region, demand rose 6.4% in PADD 1, rose 8.0% in PADD 2, rose 5.9% in PADD 3, rose 3.6% in PADD 4, and rose 1.7% in PADD 5.
GAS PRICE TRENDS
The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.19 per gallon, down 10 cents from last week, followed by $2.99, $3.29, $3.09 and $3.39 rounding out the top five most common prices.
The median U.S. gas price is $3.19 per gallon, unchanged from last week and about 9 cents lower than the national average.
The top 10% of stations in the country average $4.24 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $2.80 per gallon.
The states with the lowest average prices: Mississippi ($2.90), Oklahoma ($2.91), and Texas ($2.92).
The states with the highest average prices: Hawaii ($4.94), California ($4.34), and Washington ($3.86)
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