After
declining almost daily through the month of May, gasoline prices
are moving up again, suggesting prices might have reached a bottom,
at least for now. The reversal in average prices may also have been
caused by sudden price spikes in three states.
The national average price of self-serve regular today is $3.789 a gallon, down from $3.809 last Friday but higher than the last two days, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge Survey. The average price was $3.784 a gallon yesterday.
The price of diesel fuel is $4.005, down from $4.025 a gallon last week.
It may be that gasoline prices have finally caught up to the level of crude oil, which dropped sharply at the beginning of May and has since fluctuated around the 100 a barrel level. Some analysts believe oil prices could fall even farther over the course of the summer because of weakness in the global economy.
Prices surge in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois
This week's turnaround may also be explained by a sharp spike in gas prices this week in the industrial Midwest. The average price in Illinois, for example, surged nearly nine cents a gallon this week. The price jumped 16 cents a gallon in Michigan and 13 cents in Indiana. The price jumps reportedly stem from supply disruptions, caused in part by a pipeline shutdown.
The price at the pump has gradually come down amid a drop in oil and gasoline prices on the futures markets, where Wall Street traders have been taking profits and liquidating positions. Traders have been less bullish about the economic recovery in recent weeks, revising their estimates for the world's oil demand.
The U.S., meanwhile, continues to enjoy plentiful stockpiles of both crude oil and gasoline. The latest report from the Energy Information Administration shows supplies of oil increased by 2.9 million barrels in the previous week to 373.8 million barrels, which is 2.9 per cent above year-ago levels.
At the same time, gasoline supplies rose by 2.6 million barrels to 212.3 million barrels. That's about three percent less than what was on hand a year ago.
Driving less
“According to the Federal Highway Administration, the number of miles driven by Americans declined 1.4 percent in March compared to a year ago,” said Avery Ash, AAA's manager of federal relations. “This marks the first year-over-year decline in the number of miles driven in 13 months, suggesting expensive fuel prices may have caused Americans to curtail driving.”
The states with the most expensive gasoline today are:
- Alaska ($4.270)
- Illinois ($4.146)
- Michigan (($4.139)
- Connecticut ($4.086)
- Hawaii ($4.057)
- Washington, DC ($4.045)
- Indiana ($4.039)
- California ($4.017)
- New York ($4.013)
- Washington ($3.928)
The states with the least expensive gasoline today are:
- South Carolina ($3.501)
- Mississippi ($3.542)
- Tennessee ($3.546)
- Alabama ($3.561)
- Arkansas ($3.591)
- Missouri ($3.614)
- Texas ($3.623)
- Louisiana ($3.624)
- Arizona ($3.646)
- Oklahoma ($3.658)
