Global| Oct 02 2012U.S. Gasoline & Crude Oil Prices Drift Lower
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
The pump price of regular gasoline fell three cents last week to $3.80 per gallon. Less driving again helped pump prices move lower. Haver Analytics constructs seasonal factors to reflect this pressure. After adjustment the price for [...]
The pump price of regular gasoline fell three cents last week to $3.80 per gallon. Less driving again helped pump prices move lower. Haver Analytics constructs seasonal factors to reflect this pressure. After adjustment the price for regular gasoline rose two cents w/w to $3.78 per gallon.
The weakening of global economies helped the price for a barrel of light sweet crude oil to fall $2.87 w/w to $91.46 per barrel, the lowest level since the first week of August. Yesterday, the cost of crude recovered slightly to $92.48 per barrel. Prices peaked at $113.93 in April, 2011. Haver's seasonally adjusted crude oil price fell to $89.32 per barrel, off $3.90 w/w. Brent crude also fell last week to $110.71 per barrel but recovered to $112.73 yesterday.
Natural gas prices recovered to $2.93 per mmbtu last week and yesterday rose further to $3.19.
The demand for gasoline fell 1.0% y/y. The demand for residual fuel oil, used for heating, fell 45.0% y/y and distillate demand was off 8.7% y/y. Inventories of crude oil and petroleum products increased 1.3% y/y. That comparison was improved from the 5.0% y/y decline this past fall.
The energy price data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy and can be found in Haver's WEEKLY database. The daily figures are in DAILY and the gasoline demand figures are in OILWKLY.
Five Questions about the Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy is the title of yesterday's speech by Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and it can be found here.
| Weekly Price | 10/01/12 | 09/24/12 | 09/17/12 | Y/Y% | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Regular Gasoline ($ per Gallon, Regular) | 3.80 | 3.83 | 3.88 | 10.8 | 3.52 | 2.78 | 2.35 |
| Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl.) | 91.46 | 94.33 | 97.61 | 12.3 | 95.14 | 79.51 | 61.39 |
| Natural Gas ($/mmbtu) | 2.93 | 2.75 | 2.86 | -23.1 | 3.99 | 4.40 | 3.95 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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