NATIONAL AVERAGE GASOLINE PRICE DECLINE ENTERS SECOND WEEK, DEMAND JUMPS
For the second straight week, the nation’s average gas price has seen a decline, dropping 7.3 cents from a week ago to $3.37 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 10.9 cents from a month ago and 10.2 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has fallen 7.3 cents in the last week and stands at $4.52 per gallon.
“For a second straight week, the national average price of gasoline has declined, alongside the price of diesel which has fallen to its lowest level in nearly a year,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “While diesel prices likely have a long way to fall as inventories continue to improve, gasoline prices in some areas have gone up in the last weeks as the transition to summer gasoline is just around the corner. In addition, GasBuddy data shows that gasoline demand has risen for the third straight week, a trend that will likely continue as we gradually see temperatures warm and the heart of winter moves to the rear view. Also, refinery maintenance season will soon be in full force, likely putting upward pressure on prices. On average, gasoline prices rise between 35 and 85 cents per gallon between March and Memorial Day, so motorists seeing prices fall should enjoy the declines while they last.”
OIL PRICES
The price of crude oil has rallied over the last week as Russia announced a surprise 500,000 barrel per day production cut in retaliation for EU sanctions, pushing prices back up. In early Monday trade, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil was down 64 cents but at $79.08 per barrel was some $5 per barrel higher than last Monday’s $73.94 per barrel fetch. Brent crude oil was also seeing weekly gains but early week losses, down 68 cents in early trade to $85.71 per barrel, also nearly $5 per barrel higher than last Monday morning. While the news from Russia was a surprise, oil prices have remained range bound for several months, limiting the strength of any rally thus far to the mid-$80s for WTI and upper $80s for Brent. Government data on trading volumes remains delayed, making a read of market volumes challenging for the time being.
According to Baker Hughes, last week’s U.S. rig count was up 2 rigs to 761 but was 126 rigs higher than a year ago. The Canadian rig count rose 1 to 250 and was 31 rigs higher than a year ago.
OIL AND REFINED PRODUCTS
Last week’s report from the Energy Information Administration showed another weekly rise in major inventories, including oil, gasoline and distillates, along with domestic oil production rising to a fresh Covid-era high of 12.3 million barrels. Crude oil inventories rose 2.4 million barrels, while the SPR was again unchanged. Gasoline inventories posted a more robust 5.0 million barrel rise, while distillate inventories gained 2.9 million barrels. Implied gasoline demand, a proxy for retail gasoline demand fell slightly to 8.43 million barrels per day, while refinery utilization rose 2.2 percentage points to 87.9%. Overall petroleum supplies are up 5.8% versus a year ago excluding the SPR, but are down nearly 148 million barrels from a year ago including the SPR releases.
FUEL DEMAND
According to GasBuddy demand data driven by its Pay with GasBuddy fuel card, U.S. retail gasoline demand rose 1.7% last week (Sun-Sat). Broken down by PADD region, demand rose 0.6% in PADD 1, fell 1.7% in PADD 2, rose 16.2% in PADD 3, fell 1.5% in PADD 4, and rose 1.5% in PADD 5.
GAS PRICE TRENDS
The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.29 per gallon, down 10 cents from last week, followed by $3.19, $3.39, $3.09, and $2.99 rounding out the top five most common prices.
The median U.S. gas price is $3.27 per gallon, down 8 cents from last week and about 10 cents lower than the national average.
The top 10% of stations in the country average $4.39 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $2.86 per gallon.
The states with the lowest average prices: Texas ($2.95), Oklahoma ($3.00), and Mississippi ($3.03).
The states with the highest average prices: Hawaii ($4.82), California ($4.56), and Washington ($4.01)
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