Global| Sep 05 2012U.S. Gasoline Price Rise Is Unrelenting
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
For nine straight weeks gas prices have moved upward.The pump price of regular gasoline rose another six cents last week to $3.84 per gallon, the highest level since late April. And this is the time of year when seasonal price [...]
For nine straight weeks gas prices have moved upward.The pump price of regular gasoline rose another six cents last week to $3.84 per gallon, the highest level since late April. And this is the time of year when seasonal price pressures should be easing with less driving. So when Haver Analytics made the adjustment, the seasonally-adjusted price for regular rose a greater eight cents w/w to $3.62 per gallon.
The price for a barrel of light sweet crude oil pulled back 79 cents w/w to $95.68 per barrel last week but still was up from the late-June weekly low of $80.92. Yesterday, the cost of crude slipped further to $95.30 per barrel. Prices peaked at $113.93 in April, 2011. Brent crude also fell last week to $112.83 per barrel but recovered to $114.26 yesterday.
Natural gas prices slipped last week to $2.73 per mmbtu but yesterday jumped back to $2.86, still roughly half the early-January 2010 peak of $6.50.
Reduced driving and improved fuel economy lowered the demand for gasoline by 1.0% y/y last week. The demand for residual fuel oil, used for heating, fell 13.6% y/y and distillate demand was off 6.2% y/y. Inventories of crude oil and petroleum products ticked up 0.2% y/y. That comparison was improved from the 5.0% y/y decline this past fall.
The energy price data are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy and can be found in Haver's WEEKLY database. The daily figures are in DAILY and the gasoline demand figures are in OILWKLY.
| Weekly Price | 09/03/12 | 08/27/12 | 08/20/12 | Y/Y% | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Regular Gasoline ($ per Gallon, Regular) | 3.84 | 3.78 | 3.74 | 4.6 | 3.52 | 2.78 | 2.35 |
| Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl.) | 95.68 | 96.47 | 94.42 | 8.6 | 95.14 | 79.51 | 61.39 |
| Natural Gas ($/mmbtu) | 2.73 | 2.78 | 2.77 | -32.3 | 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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