Average gas prices remain stable, diesel prices fall, says GasBuddy

(GasBuddy) After falling for two weeks, the country’s average gas price is flat from last week, standing at 3, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports for over 150,000 service stations across the country. $37 per gallon. The national average is 2.7 cents lower than a month ago and 14.5 cents per gallon lower than a year ago. The national median price of diesel has fallen 6.9 cents over the past week to stand at $4.45 a gallon.

“Motorists in many areas of the country have seen gas prices fall for another week while some states have risen. We’ve seen some refining challenges in parts of the country while others begin the transition to summer gasoline, weighing on prices. The outlook for diesel remains good as prices continue to fall,” said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis. “Oil prices have fallen over the past week which has helped cap any upside at the pump, with strong economic data raising concerns that the Fed will continue to use interest rates to slow the economy. This could weaken demand as we head into the summer peak season. The good news for diesel is that the most common diesel price in the US is now $3.99 per gallon, with average prices continuing to fall. In the next few weeks, diesel will finally become deflationary compared to a year ago, which is excellent news for the economy.”

OIL PRICES

Oil prices struggled after a significant rise in inventories and ongoing economic data suggesting the Federal Reserve will continue to hike interest rates and dampen demand growth. In early Monday trading, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude rose 63 cents to $76.97 a barrel, a little over $2 a barrel down from last week’s $79.08 a barrel. Brent crude also saw some early morning strength, rising 68 cents to $83.68 a barrel, but a little over $2 a barrel lower from last Monday’s $85.71 a barrel. Solid economic data in the US continued to add to concerns that the Fed might even accelerate rate hikes again as both the jobs and inflation numbers came in stronger than expected.

According to Baker Hughes, the number of rigs in the US fell by 1 rig last week to 760, but was up 115 rigs from a year ago. The number of Canadian rigs decreased by 2 to 248, up 28 rigs from a year ago.

OIL AND REFINED PRODUCTS

Last week’s Energy Information Administration report showed a staggering 16.3 million barrels in oil inventories, now up 8% from the five-year average for this time of year, while the SPR was flat for the fourth straight week. Domestic crude oil production was unchanged at 12.3 million barrels per day. Gasoline inventories rose 2.3 million barrels but remain about 5% below the five-year seasonal average, while distillates declined 1.3 million barrels and are 15% below the five-year seasonal average. Implied gasoline demand, a proxy for retail gasoline consumption, fell 154,000 basis points per day to 8.27 million, causing gasoline demand to lag 3.0% year-to-date through 2022. Refinery utilization fell 1.4 percentage points to 86.5% while both gasoline and distillate fuel production fell. Total US inventories are 97.2 million barrels higher than a year ago excluding the SPR, while inventories including the SPR are down 116 million barrels from a year ago.

FUEL REQUIREMENTS

According to GasBuddy demand data, powered by the Pay with GasBuddy fuel card, US retail gasoline demand rose 0.1% last week (Sun-Sat). Broken down by PADD region, demand increased by 0.3% in PADD 1, fell by 0.6% in PADD 2, fell by 0.2% in PADD 3, fell by 2.8% in PADD 4 and fell in PADD 5 by 2.6%.

GAS PRICE DEVELOPMENT

The most common US gasoline price motorists encounter was $3.19 a gallon, down 10 cents from last week, followed by $3.29, $3.09, $2.99 ​​and 3 $.39, rounding out the five most common prices.

The average US gas price is $3.24 a gallon, down 3 cents from last week and about 13 cents below the national average.

The top 10% of gas stations in the country average $4.52 per gallon, while the bottom 10% use an average of $2.88 per gallon.

The states with the lowest average prices: Texas ($2.97), Mississippi ($2.98) and Oklahoma ($3.02).

The states with the highest average prices: Hawaii ($4.84), California ($4.66) and Nevada ($4.13).