U.S. Gasoline Prices Hold Steady While Crude Oil Costs Strengthen Last Week

Retail gasoline prices for all grades of $3.56 per gallon (-3.5% y/y) in the week ended June 24 were unchanged from the previous week, placing them near the lowest price since the second week of March. The recent high was $4.00 per gallon 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 $3.66 per gallon (-3.6% y/y) last week from $3.73 in the prior week. These compared to a high of $4.63 per gallon in the third week of September 2023.

The average price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped to $81.20 per barrel (15.2% y/y) in the week ended June 21 from an average $78.24 per barrel in the prior week. It was the highest price since the last week of April but remained below the all-time high reached in the week of July 4, 2008 of $142.46 per barrel. Yesterday, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was $81.63 per barrel. The price of European Brent crude oil rose to $84.90 per barrel (12.8% y/y) in the week ended June 21 compared to $80.64 in the prior 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 $86.75 per barrel.

Natural gas prices declined to an average of $2.44/mmbtu (+7.0% y/y) in the week ended June 21 and reversed the prior week’s increase to $2.73/mmbtu. These compared to a low of $1.40 averaged in the week of March 15. Yesterday, the price of natural gas recovered to $2.58/mmbtu.

Gasoline demand fell 1.0% y/y in the four weeks ended June 14 after declining 1.3% y/y in the four weeks ended June 7. Demand for all petroleum products edged 0.2% higher y/y in the last four weeks after easing 0.8% y/y in the previous period. Crude oil input to refineries rose 3.3% y/y in the four weeks ended June 7 compared to a 3.5% y/y gain during the previous four week period.

Gasoline inventories fell 4.4% y/y in the week of June 7 after rising 5.7% y/y in the prior week. Inventories of residual fuel oil fell 7.3% y/y in the week of June 14 after declining 10.8% y/y in the previous week. Crude oil inventories, including the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, rose 1.8% y/y in the week of June 14 following a 1.4% y/y rise in the prior week.

Measured in days’ supply, gasoline inventories edged higher w/w to 25.3 days from 25.6 days in the week of June 14. The recent low was 23.4 days in the week of June 30, 2023. Crude oil inventories eased to 26.9 days in the week of June 14 from 27.1 days in the prior week. These compare to a recent high of 31.9 days in the week of March 3, 2023 and a 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 and USENERGY databases.