Gas Prices
Just about everywhere in the country, gasoline prices are going down, a nice bonus for motorists as we get into the summer driving season.
The reason is two-fold. There haven't been any major incidents at oil refineries that would interfere with regional distribution of gasoline. And the price of oil, used to make gasoline, is dropping like a rock.
"Oil plummeting to $44 a barrel, wholesale gas prices taking a beating," Tweeted Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at ...
Millions of consumers will hit the road for the long Memorial Day weekend and will find gasoline just a little more expensive than it was last year.
According to the AAA Fuel Gauge Survey, the national average price of self-serve regular is around $2.36 a gallon, up seven cents from last Memorial Day weekend. The national average price of premium gas is $2.88 a gallon, 13 cents a gallon more than last year.
The national average price of diesel fuel is $2.50 a gallon, near...
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The national average price of self-serve regular, tracked daily by AAA, dropped below $2 a gallon Monday, to $1.998, for the first time since March 25, 2009.
While drivers in the southeast have been paying well below that for months, motorists in other parts of the country have seen prices fall in recent weeks but are still paying north of the $2 mark.
More than two-thirds of U.S. gas stations are now selling gas under $2 per gallon, and AAA says drivers can find at least...
In a little noted action Friday, the Federal Reserve published a proposed rule that it said would toughen the existing requirements and limitations placed on investment banks and some other traders who speculate in the commodities market.
The Fed said it is proposing the action because of its concerns over potential “catastrophic, legal, reputational, and financial risks” these firms could suffer, possibly posing system risks to the financial system. Most likely policym...
In a famous Sherlock Holmes story, the key clue was the dog that did not bark. When it comes to gasoline prices, the key victory for consumers, it seems, is the price that did not rise.
By all accounts, the national average gasoline price should have risen about a dime a gallon over the last two or three weeks. It hasn't.
The AAA Fuel Gauge Survey shows today's average price of self-serve regular is $2.29 a gallon. That's what it was the day before, and a week ago. If you...
For consumers, the last two years have been “the good old days” when it comes to gasoline prices. A growing glut of oil on the world markets led to huge price declines. That, in turn, dropped gasoline prices from more than $3 a gallon to below $2 a gallon in just over a year.
That move also accomplished something else. It drove most investors out of the oil futures market. In the parlance of Wall Street, oil became a “bear market,” meaning the bet was prices would go dow...
Over the weekend, there were lines at gas stations in Tennessee as many stations ran out of fuel. Meanwhile, gasoline prices soared in wide areas of the Southeast.
This flashback to the late 1970s comes courtesy of a leak in Line 1 of the Colonial Pipeline, which carries fuel between Houston and High Point, N.C. and supplies Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.
It will be several more days before supplies return to normal, but in a Tweet over t...
The news that OPEC ministers have agreed in principal to capping production sent oil prices surging on world markets late Wednesday.
Bloomberg News reported the oil ministers, meeting in Algeria, agreed in principal to try to cap production at around 33 million barrels a day. For the first time in two years, the world's major oil producers appear to be on a path that would reduce output and raise prices.
But the consensus among industry analysts appears to be that this is...
Oil is a lubricant that usually keeps machines running smoothly. Lately, however, it has held an oversized influence over all things economic – and the results have been far from smooth.
When oil prices fell below $30 a barrel last week, world stock markets nearly panicked. While cheap oil is normally seen as a good thing, investors are worried the low price will drive many oil companies out of business, leaving the banks that have made big loans to them high and dry.
Add...
Over the Independence Day holiday, a report about energy independence may have escaped your attention. Because of fracking, the U.S. has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the world's leading oil producer.
A Bank of America report obtained by Bloomberg News said U.S. crude oil production, along with liquid fuel separated from natural gas, was more than 11 million barrels a day in the first quarter of 2014.
That might seem small consolation to consumers who can barely afford to ...
With U.S. oil refineries cutting back on gasoline production during spring maintenance, and the switch over to summer blend fuel, the price of gasoline is rising nationwide.
According to the AAA Fuel Gauge Survey, the national Average price of self-serve regular is now at $2.03 a gallon, up a nickel from a week ago but nearly 32 cents higher than last month. AAA says it's the first time this year the average price has exceeded the $2 a gallon mark.
For motorists, there sh...
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the government agency responsible for overseeing the trading of energy contracts, has taken the unusual step of revealing a six-month investigation into possible price manipulation.
The announcement comes amid a breathtaking spike in oil prices and growing speculation that speculators are a big cause of consumer misery.
"All Americans are significantly affected by high energy priceswhether it's paying more at the pump, or higher co...
World oil prices are in free-fall once again, hitting levels not seen since the financial crisis of 2008.
Back then, it was fear that the economy was collapsing that drove oil lower. Today, it's the fact that the world has more oil than it knows what to do with.
Reuters reports Brent crude plunged 4% to below $36.40 a barrel for the first time since December 2008. For Brent, that's just 14 cents above the post-financial crisis lows.
Falling oil prices have had a similar ef...
Fess up, hybrid owners. You know this deal's too good to last. Drivers of hybrid and all-electric cars have been basically getting a free ride on America's highways and byways. But the good times are about to stop rolling.
In Washington, attempts to pass a new highway bill are stalled more or less permanently despite the best efforts of the concrete lobby, largely because of disagreements over whether to raise the gas tax. This leaves the states to scratch around on their...
The price motorists pay at the gas pump keeps falling, and with less than five weeks remaining in 2015, it appears likely we'll start 2016 with a national average price below $2 a gallon.
According to the AAA Fuel Gauge Survey, today's national average is $2.03 a gallon, down three cents per gallon for the week, 14 cents over the last month, and 74 cents compared to a year ago.
The national average has dropped for 24 of the past 30 days. The biggest contributor to the bre...
Attorneys General from more than 30 states are investigating the underlying cause for sudden and dramatic increases in gasoline prices across the country.
The multi-state probe will focus on the factors that generated the rapid escalation in gasoline prices in days following Hurricane Katrina.
"Hurricane Katrina was an event totally outside human control," Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said. "We want to determine if storm-related factors were the only things responsible for this sudden and dramatic jump of prices at the gas pump."
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced he will subpoena records from refiners and probe the pricing practices of gas station owners in his state.
Hurricane Katrina has broken families, devastated communities and destroyed lives, said Lockyer. Its during times such as this that its most important we pull together, act with one heart, and rebuild with a sense of community. To unjustly profit from tragedy is unconscionable. I hope this investigation does not find that such greed has afflicted oil companies and gas station operators in California.
In Florida, Attorney General Charlie Crist has sent teams of investigators and sworn law enforcement personnel from his office to locations throughout the state to look into complaints of price gouging on the price of gasoline.
Crist said investigators will be looking to determine whether the rapid rise of gas prices meets the legal definition of gouging, and vowed to prosecute any violations of the law.
As of 1:00 p.m. Friday, the Attorney General's toll-free consumer hotline had received 1,050 complaints about skyrocketing gas prices in the days since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast.
"When we hear of 75- to 90-cent price spikes within two days, or reports that surcharges are being tacked onto consumers' fuel costs, then it is our duty to investigate," said Crist. "Floridians understood that damage from Hurricane Katrina would lead to some disruptions in fuel supply and some cost increases, but these spikes lead to legitimate questions that must be answered. Gouging will not be tolerated."
Alabamas AG, Troy King, said What we have seen in the last few days is a crisis unfolding throughout America and particularly in the Southeast -- on top of the terrible natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina -- with gas prices rocketing to such a degree as to create serious allegations of price gouging."
Other Attorneys General and I are committed to getting clear and understandable answers about why gas prices have risen so rapidly and dramatically, and if the law is being violated, we will take action," said King.
Gas prices have spiraled to more than $3.00 per gallon across much of the country since Hurricane Katrina smashed into the Gulf Coast earlier this week.
Attorneys General from more than 30 states are investigating the underlying cause for sudden and dramatic increases in gasoline prices across the country.
The multi-state probe will focus on the factors that generated the rapid escalation in gasoline prices in days following Hurricane Katrina.
"Hurricane Katrina was an event totally outside human control," Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett said. "We want to determine if storm-related factors were the only things re...
Consumers have seen gasoline prices drop sharply in the last week, falling more in some states than in others. But in point of fact, prices are just getting back to normal after speculation in the futures market added upward pressure in the two previous months.
The AAA Fuel Gauge Survey shows the national average price of gasoline is $2.16 a gallon after falling over the last 10 days. That's down a nickel from a week ago and nearly a dime lower than a month ago. But it is exactly in line with last year's national average.
“The abundance of crude oil in the global market is contributing to lower prices, and as a result, retail averages are the same price as compared to one year ago,” AAA said on its website.
Stong dollar helping motorists
Another factor is at play here as well. The U.S. dollar has strengthened significantly since Donald Trump's election a week ago and, since oil is priced in dollars, oil prices have begun to fall even more.
They were moving in the other direction in September and October as speculators bet that OPEC members, which are scheduled to meet at the end of this month, would agree to cap production, to drive up oil prices. Wall Street optimism for such an agreement is fading, and the latest data shows OPEC has increased production in recent weeks.
Less demand
There also tends to be less demand for gasoline during the month of November, and with refinery maintenance mostly completed, the outlook is brightening for falling fuel prices into the end of the year.
In some states, the price at the pump is absolutely in a free-fall. In the last week, Indiana saw its statewide average plunge 14 cents a gallon. It's down 12 cents in Ohio, 11 cents in Michigan, eight cents in Kentucky and Illinois, and seven cents in Nebraska and Oklahoma.
The statewide average is below $2 in nine states, with the lowest prices in Missouri and Oklahoma, both of which are reporting an average price of $1.88 a gallon.
Consumers have seen gasoline prices drop sharply in the last week, falling more in some states than in others. But in point of fact, prices are just getting back to normal after speculation in the futures market added upward pressure in the two previous months.
The AAA Fuel Gauge Survey shows the national average price of gasoline is $2.16 a gallon after falling over the last 10 days. That's down a nickel from a week ago and nearly a dime lower than a month ago. But it i...