Global| Sep 08 2010U.S. Gasoline Prices Approach Lowest Level This Year As Crude Oil Remains Weak
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
The soft U.S. economy has done nothing to help oil & gas prices. The pump price for regular gasoline held steady last week at $2.68 per gallon, the lowest since February and down from $2.91 in early-May. Nevertheless, prices remained [...]
The soft U.S. economy has done nothing to help oil & gas prices. The pump
price for regular gasoline held steady last week at $2.68 per gallon, the
lowest since February and down from $2.91 in early-May. Nevertheless, prices
remained up from the December-2008 low of $1.61. Yesterday, the spot market
price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose to $1.95, its highest in two weeks.
The figures are reported by the U.S. Department of Energy and can be found in
Haver's WEEKLY & DAILY databases.
The average price for a barrel of light sweet crude oil (WTI) ticked higher last week to $74.03 but still remained down from the high of $84.23 averaged during April. Crude prices held roughly steady at yesterday's $74.09 per barrel.
U.S. natural gas prices fell last week to an average of $3.80 and were down sharply from $5.18 per mmbtu averaged in June. Yesterday, prices were roughly stable at $3.82 but were down from an early-January high of $6.50.
Demand for gasoline increased 2.0% during the latest week versus one year ago, firming from declines as of January. The demand for residual fuel oil fell by 18.3% versus last year but distillate demand rose a lessened 7.8% y/y. That's still improved from a 12.3% decline during February. Inventories of crude oil and petroleum products have been rising since the winter and were up 2.5% during the last twelve months.
The energy price data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY database while the daily figures are in DAILY. The gasoline demand figures are in OILWKLY.
| Weekly Prices | 09/06/10 | 08/30/10 | 08/23/10 | Y/Y | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Regular Gasoline ($ per Gallon, Regular) | 2.68 | 2.68 | 2.70 | 3.6% | 2.35 | 3.25 | 2.80 |
| Light Sweet Crude Oil, WTI ($ per bbl.) | 74.03 | 72.94 | 74.86 | 8.2 | 61.39 | 100.16 | 72.25 |
| Natural Gas ($/mmbtu) | 3.80 | 3.93 | 4.29 | 71.6 | 3.95 | 8.88 | 6.97 |
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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