NATIONAL AVERAGE PRICE OF GASOLINE HITS PAUSE AS MEMORIAL DAY LOOMS

As Americans gear up for the start of the summer driving season with Memorial Day weekend, the nation’s average price of gasoline is unchanged from a week ago at $3.51 per gallon, 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 price of diesel has fallen 3.2 cents in the last week and stands at $3.94 per gallon.

“In the run up to Memorial Day, the national average price of gas has seen little overall movement over the last week. We’ve seen more states see prices climb than fall, which has been driven by oil’s volatility as debt ceiling discussions are ongoing. I think we’ll see prices rise slightly as we get closer to Memorial Day, especially if there are positive developments in the debt ceiling discussions in D.C., while pessimism could drive prices slightly lower,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. “I continue to be optimistic that the national average will remain under $4 per gallon for most of, if not the entire summer, with Americans spending a combined $1.6 billion less on gasoline over Memorial Day weekend this year compared to last.”

OIL PRICES
With continued discussions about reaching a bipartisan agreement to raise the nation’s debt limit, the price of oil has remained somewhat volatile, given the economic repercussions that come with the situation. In early Monday trade, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 10 cents to $71.45 per barrel, just 68 cents above the $70.77 seen in early trade a week ago. Brent crude oil was also in the red, down 8 cents to $75.50 at presstime, a narrow rise from $74.88 per barrel last Monday. Oil is expected to continue bouncing around as developments break in the talks being held today in Washington, D.C. between President Biden and Speaker McCarthy.

OIL AND REFINED PRODUCTS
Last week’s report from the Energy Information Administration showed a fairly robust 5 million increase in commercial crude oil inventories, which stand at the five year average, while the SPR fell 2.4 million barrels. U.S. oil production saw a slight 100,000bpd fall to 12.2 million barrels, while gasoline inventories fell 1.4 million barrels to a year-on-year deficit of nearly 2 million barrels. Distillate inventories saw a slight 100,000bpd rise, and are about 1% above their year ago level. Implied gasoline demand, a proxy for retail gasoline consumption, fell 395,000bpd to 8.91 million barrels. Refinery utilization rose 1 percentage point to 92.0%, even as gasoline production fell. Distillate production rose to nearly 5 million barrels per day.

FUEL DEMAND
According to GasBuddy demand data driven by its Pay with GasBuddy™ fuel card, U.S. retail gasoline demand saw a rise of 1.1% last week (Sun-Sat). Broken down by PADD region, demand rose 0.7% in PADD 1, rose 1.0% in PADD 2, rose 1.6% in PADD 3, rose 1.7% in PADD 4, and rose 1.4% in PADD 5.

GAS PRICE TRENDS
The most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $3.39 per gallon, up 10 cents from last week, followed by $3.29, $3.49, $3.19, and $3.59 rounding out the top five most common prices.
The median U.S. gas price is $3.39 per gallon, unchanged from last week and about 12 cents lower than the national average.
The top 10% of stations in the country average $4.75 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $2.91 per gallon.
The states with the lowest average prices: Mississippi ($2.95), Texas ($3.03), and Louisiana ($3.05).
The states with the highest average prices: California ($4.76), Hawaii ($4.74), and Arizona ($4.63).

DIESEL PRICE TRENDS
The most common U.S. diesel price stood at $3.99 per gallon, unchanged from last week, followed by $3.79, $3.89, $3.69, and $3.59 rounding out the top five most common prices.
The median U.S. diesel price is $3.85 per gallon, down 4 cents from last week and about 9 cents lower than the national average for diesel.
Diesel prices at the top 10% of stations in the country average $4.99 per gallon, while the bottom 10% average $3.24 per gallon.
The states with the lowest average diesel prices: Texas ($3.38), Louisiana ($3.51), and Oklahoma ($3.57).
The states with the highest average diesel prices: Hawaii ($5.84), California ($5.05), and Washington ($4.90).