U.S. Energy Prices Continued to Rise
by:Sandy Batten
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Gasoline prices edged up to highest in five weeks.
- Crude oil prices rose again to highest in nine weeks.
- Natural gas prices soared on top of big increase in the previous week.
Retail gasoline prices edged up 0.3% w/w to $3.31 per gallon (39.0% y/y) in the week ended January 17 from $3.30 per gallon in the previous week. It was the highest price since the second week of December. Haver Analytics adjusts the gasoline price series for normal seasonal variation. The seasonally adjusted price was unchanged at $3.40 per gallon.
The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased 4.8% w/w (54.5% y/y) to $81.57 per barrel in the week of January 14, the highest weekly price since the week of November 12. This was the fourth consecutive weekly rise. Yesterday, the price rose to $85.43 per barrel, its highest since October 25, 2021. The average price of Brent crude oil rose 3.9% w/w (50.0% y/y) to $83.85 in the week of January 14, the highest price since the week of October 29. The price rose further to $87.90 per barrel yesterday, its highest since October 13, 2014.
The price of natural gas soared 16.3% m/m (56.7% y/y) to $4.42/mmbtu in the week of January 14 on top of a 6.7% w/w jump in the previous week. While this is the fifth weekly increase in the past six weeks, the current price remains well below the recent high of $5.87/mmbtu reached in early October 2021. Yesterday, the price increased to $4.55/mmbtu.
In the four weeks ended January 7, growth in gasoline demand slowed to 11.8% y/y from 15.2% y/y in the previous week. Growth in demand for all petroleum products slowed to 10.8% y/y in the same week from 14.4% y/y in the prior week. Crude oil input to refineries rose 9.8% y/y, down from 10.9% y/y in the previous week. Gasoline inventories fell 1.9% y/y, while crude oil inventories declined 10.1% y/y.
The supply of gasoline inventories in the week ending January 7 rose to 27.7 days, its highest level since March 2021, from 25.6 days. The supply of crude oil slipped to 26.3 days in the same week from 26.5 days in the prior week. The latest reading was the lowest level since January 2020.
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 and DAILY databases. Greater detail on prices, as well as the demand, production and inventory data are in USENERGY.
Sandy Batten
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Sandy Batten has more than 30 years of experience analyzing industrial economies and financial markets and a wide range of experience across the financial services sector, government, and academia. Before joining Haver Analytics, Sandy was a Vice President and Senior Economist at Citibank; Senior Credit Market Analyst at CDC Investment Management, Managing Director at Bear Stearns, and Executive Director at JPMorgan. In 2008, Sandy was named the most accurate US forecaster by the National Association for Business Economics. He is a member of the New York Forecasters Club, NABE, and the American Economic Association. Prior to his time in the financial services sector, Sandy was a Research Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Senior Staff Economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the US Treasury, and Economist at the International Monetary Fund. Sandy has taught economics at St. Louis University, Denison University, and Muskingun College. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in a wide range of academic publications. He has a B.A. in economics from the University of Richmond and a M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from The Ohio State University.
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