Gas Prices Rising Again Behind Crude Oil Pricing Climb
After a slight decline during Easter, gas prices are once again climbing back up as crude oil does the same.
The national average stands at $2.46 for a gallon of regular, the lowest price since 2009 at around this time, reports The Detroit Bureau. The price is a 7-cent increase over the past week, thanks to crude oil prices climbing 17 percent since the start of April due to a combination of decreased U.S. output, ongoing refinery issues, and possible new geopolitical issues in the Middle East.
Heading into the summer, speculation points to an oil glut as Cushing, Okla.’s storage hub quickly climbs to capacity, though a recent drop in oil levels reported by commodity intelligence company Genscape has allayed those concerns for now. The aforementioned refinery issues are another factor in pricing with the West Coast remaining on the high end of the scale.
Currently, California holds the highest average at $3.15/gallon while Alabama and Mississippi are neck-and-neck for the lowest average at $2.24 and $2.23 per gallon, respectively.
[Photo credit: Cameron Aubernon/Instagram]
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
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If you don't use a credit card to pay, how do you complete the transaction? Do you have to go inside or something?
has there ever been a time when the refineries weren't having "issues"? they need to upgrade those refineries' computers to something other than windows ME.
Hmm. Perhaps a heavily discounted hybrid makes sense for me this fall.
Sharp, short-term moves in crude oil prices are almost always the consequence of international political developments - sometimes ones that are not immediately transparent. In recent weeks that pot has definitely been simmering. 1.The nuke negotiations with Iran may well get torpedoed. No deal. No lifting of sanctions. No need to find room for increased Iranian output. 2.Open warfare between Arabia and Iran has now become at least a possibility. This would shut in a lot of Gulf oil production. 3.Egypt's Al-Sisi has publically offered to take the east Libyan oil fields if the U.S. gives him the weapons he needs (1978 all over again). In public, Obama has said no. Who knows the truth? 4.Putin may realistically be in a position to spike crude oil prices, probably over Ukraine. He might do it. 5.The immediate threat to crude oil prices from fracking appears to have been contained. Oil services companies are laying off by the tens of thousands. In short, it doesn't look like the end of the world as we know it, but for the moment the political risk issue and its effect on oil prices is back.