U.S. Energy Prices Decline
by:Sandy Batten
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
• The AAA retail price of gasoline fell seven cents, its first weekly decline in 10 weeks.
• Crude oil prices dropped more than $9, their second consecutive weekly decline.
• Natural gas prices dell $1.50, their third decline in the past four weeks.
The AAA retail price of gasoline fell seven cents to $4.94 per gallon (+60.4% y/y) in the week ended June 24 after having breached $5 per gallon for the first time on record in the preceding week.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices fell $9.28 to $107.18 per barrel (+45.9% y/y) in the week ended June 24 from $116.46 in the previous week. This was the second consecutive weekly decline and the lowest price posted since the week of May 13. Yesterday the price was $109.57 per barrel. The average price of Brent crude oil declined $7.04 to $112.51 per barrel (+49.4% y/y) from $119.55 per barrel in the prior week. Yesterday, the price was $115.58 per barrel.
The price of natural gas declined to $6.43/mmbtu (+96.0% y/y) in the week of June 24 from $7.93/mmbtu in the previous week. This was the third weekly decline in the past four weeks to the lowest price since the week of April 29. Yesterday, the price was $6.09/mmbtu.
In the four weeks ended June 10, gasoline demand fell 1.1% y/y. Demand for all petroleum products, however, rose 2.3% y/y. Crude oil input to refineries increased 3.0% y/y.
Gasoline inventories decreased 10.5% y/y in the week of June 10 while crude oil inventories declined 14.8% y/y.
The supply of gasoline inventories in the week ended June 10 eased to 24.1 days from 24.2 days in the previous week. The supply of crude oil was unchanged at 25.8 days, down from 41.8 days in early-March of last year.
These data are reported by the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. The price data can be found in Haver's WEEKLY and DAILY databases. Greater detail on prices, as well as the demand, production and inventory data are in USENERGY.
Sandy Batten
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Sandy Batten has more than 30 years of experience analyzing industrial economies and financial markets and a wide range of experience across the financial services sector, government, and academia. Before joining Haver Analytics, Sandy was a Vice President and Senior Economist at Citibank; Senior Credit Market Analyst at CDC Investment Management, Managing Director at Bear Stearns, and Executive Director at JPMorgan. In 2008, Sandy was named the most accurate US forecaster by the National Association for Business Economics. He is a member of the New York Forecasters Club, NABE, and the American Economic Association. Prior to his time in the financial services sector, Sandy was a Research Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Senior Staff Economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the US Treasury, and Economist at the International Monetary Fund. Sandy has taught economics at St. Louis University, Denison University, and Muskingun College. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in a wide range of academic publications. He has a B.A. in economics from the University of Richmond and a M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from The Ohio State University.
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