U.S. Gasoline & Oil Prices Move Higher in Latest Week

Retail gasoline prices for all grades rose to $3.21 per gallon (-10.6%) in the week ended January 29. The recent high of $4.00 per gallon occurred in the third week of September, and the all-time high was $5.11 in the week ended June 13, 2022. Retail prices for on-highway diesel fuel fell to an average $3.87 per gallon (-16.3% y/y) last week from $3.84 in the prior week. Diesel fuel prices are higher than a recent low of $3.77 per gallon in the week ended July 3, 2023.

The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose to an average $76.09 per barrel (-5.4% y/y) in the week ended January 26 from an average $73.24 in the prior week. It was the highest price in nine weeks, up from a low of $69.37 per barrel in the week of June 30, 2023, but remained below a high of $91.45 in the week of September 29, 2023. The all-time high was seen in the week of July 4, 2008, at $142.46 per barrel. Yesterday, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was $76.78 per barrel. The price of European Brent crude oil rose to $82.31 per barrel (-4.2% y/y) in the week ended January 26 from $80.11 in the January 12 week. The price of Brent has recently ranged from a low of $73.55 in the week ended June 30, 2023, to a high of $127.40 in the week ended June 10, 2022. Yesterday, the price was $83.99 per barrel.

Natural gas prices fell to an average of $2.33/mmbtu (-24.4% y/y) in the week ended January 26 from $2.92/mmbtu in the January 19 week. The latest week compares to a recent high which averaged $3.20 for the week of October 13, 2023 and a low of $1.93 in the week of June 2, 2023. Yesterday, the natural gas price was $2.41/mmbtu.

Gasoline demand rose 3.7% y/y in the four-weeks ended January 19, following a 3.9% y/y increase in the four weeks ended January 12. Demand for all petroleum products rose 3.3% y/y after increasing 1.3% y/y in the period ended January 5. Crude oil input to refineries strengthened 11.7% y/y in the four weeks ended January 19, the same as during the prior four-week period.

Gasoline inventories increased 9.0% y/y in the week of January 19 following an 7.7% y/y increase in the prior week. Inventories of residual fuel oil fell 15.6% y/y in the January 19 week after falling 12.4% y/y in the previous week. Crude oil inventories, including the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased 5.2% y/y in the week of January 19 following a 4.2% y/y decline one week earlier.

Measured in days’ supply, gasoline inventories were 31.2 days in the week of January 19, up from 29.4 days in the prior week. The earlier high had been 29.7 days in the week of January 20, 2023, and the recent low was 23.4 days in the week of June 30, 2023. Crude oil inventories were 25.8 days of supply in the week of January 19, versus 25.9 days in the prior week. These compare to a recent high of 31.9 days in the week of March 3, 2023 and a recent low of 25.0 days in the week of September 1, 2023.

These data are reported by the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. The price and supply/demand data can be found in Haver’s WEEKLY & USENERGY databases.