The national average price of gasoline is up for the seventh straight week, posting a rise of 3.9 cents in the last week to stand at $2.69 per gallon, the highest level in 142 days, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 10 million individual price reports covering 135,000 gas stations across the United States. The average price of diesel rose 0.2 cents to $3.02 per gallon.
“There’s no fooling motorists, gas prices have continued to surge. For the seventh straight week the national average has continued to rise, unabated, due to seasonal impacts. The run-up this spring has felt worse than prior years, and thus far, the national average is up nearly 50 cents per gallon from our 2019 low. Unfortunately, this a rut we’ll be stuck in yet for at least a few more weeks,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy. “President Trump, as much as he’d like to control oil and gasoline prices, has not be able to successfully convince OPEC to respond, with oil prices last week closing above $60 per barrel, a fresh 2019 high. What the President may not realize is that while oil prices have been a minor piece of the pie of rising gas prices, the bulk remains EPA mandates during the summer months that coincide with refineries doing work ahead of the intense demand during the summer in which most run near capacity.”
Crude oil prices jumped over the last week, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up 63 cents in trading Monday morning, up $2.08 per barrel versus a week ago to stand at $60.75, a fresh multi-month high. Brent crude also lurched forward, up nearly $2 per barrel from $66.73 a week ago to $68.42 in early Monday trade.
While oil inventories increased in last week’s Energy Information Administration by some 2.8 million barrels, gasoline and distillate inventories posted declines. Gasoline stockpiles were off by nearly 3 million barrels, falling under year-ago levels while distillates fell just over 2 million barrels. Refinery utilization sagged last week to 86.6%, falling from 88.9% in the week prior period as refineries continue seasonal work ahead of the summer driving season. Large drops in utilization were seen in the Gulf Coast region, Rocky Mountain region and West Coast region. The Midwest saw a slight drop while the East Coast saw a 1.1% rise in utilization.
At gas pumps, nearly all states again saw average gas prices rising with seven states again seeing double-digit increases. The most common gas price across the country was $2.59 per gallon, while the previous top spot $2.49 fell into second place. $2.69 was the third most common price. The average price of the top 10% of gas stations surged from $3.34 to $3.53 per gallon, while the nation’s least expensive 10% of stations averaged $2.33 per gallon, up 7 cents from the week prior.
Gas prices are yet again likely to increase in a majority of states with the national average likely to rise over $2.70 per gallon in the next few days. No easy discernible peak is yet seen for U.S. gas prices.