U.S. Energy Prices Are Mixed in Latest Week
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Gasoline prices are unchanged.
- Crude oil prices fall but natural gas increases.
- Petroleum demand rises for especially crude oil and gasoline.
Retail gasoline prices held steady w/w at $3.65 per gallon (-22.3% y/y). Prices remained above the $3.20 low in the last week of December. The retail price of diesel fuel on Monday was $3.88 per gallon (-30.3% y/y), down from $3.90 the week before and well below the peak of $5.810 on June 20, 2022.
The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil price fell to 71.63 per barrel (-36.1% y/y) in the week ended May 19 from $72.05 per barrel in the prior week. These are down from a recent high of $81.87 in the second week of April and from $120.46 per barrel the week of June 10, 2022. Yesterday the price was $71.99 per barrel. Brent crude oil prices eased to $75.75 (-32.9% y/y) from $76.08 in the prior week, and were below $127.40 the week of June 10, 2022. Yesterday the price was $76.19 per barrel.
The price of natural gas rose to $2.29/mmbtu (-72.1% y/y) in the week ended May 19 from $2.10 the previous week. Prices have fallen from their recent high of $6.78/mmbtu in the third week of December and from $9.56/mmbtu in the last week of August of 2022. Yesterday, the price was $2.30/mmbtu.
In the four weeks ended May 12, gasoline demand rose 2.9% from a year ago after increasing 2.2% in the prior week. Demand for all petroleum products rose 2.0% in the latest four weeks, up from 1.7% in i9the week prior. Crude oil input to refineries rose 0.8% from a year ago.
Gasoline inventories were down 2.8% y/y in the week of May 12 . Crude oil inventories fell 13.7% from a year ago. Inventories of distillate fuel oil rose 0.9% y/y and residual fuel oil inventories rose 10.8% y/y.
Measured in days’ supply, gasoline inventories in the week ended May 12 fell to 24.0 days from 24.4 days in the previous week. It was the lowest level in since the second week of November. The supply of crude oil rose to 29.5 days, still above its low of 25.3 days at the end of June 2022.
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 database.
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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