As of Tuesday, prices at the pump are surging for U.S. consumers, with the current average for a gallon of gasoline reaching $3.636, as reported by AAA data.
In a significant one-day surge, gasoline prices rose by 4 cents, marking the largest increase in a year. Moreover, over the past week, there has been a notable hike of over 7 cents per gallon as the nation enters its peak driving season.
In the latest Weekly Petroleum Status report published by the EIA last Wednesday, total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 1.1 million barrels during the week, bringing the level to 7% below the five-year average for this period.
Additionally, gasoline production also declined last week, averaging 9.5 million bpd, with refineries operating at 94.3%, according to EIA data. As of July 14, total motor gasoline inventory reached 218.4 million barrels, in comparison to 228.4 million barrels during the same week in 2022.
The petroleum markets are currently anticipating data from the American Petroleum Institute, set to be released this afternoon, to gain an updated perspective on the current gasoline inventories.
GasBuddy data reveals that U.S. retail gasoline demand increased by 0.6% during the week ending Saturday, which typically represents peak summer driving season in the country. Notably, the most significant demand surge for the week was observed in PADD 2, according to GasBuddy.
Currently, gasoline prices remain notably lower than the $4.355 per gallon average seen at this time last year. During that period, the Biden Administration was making efforts to reduce prices and decided to sell off 180 million barrels of crude oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve to achieve this objective.
Apart from the low gasoline inventories in the United States, crude oil prices have also been increasing, with WTI reaching $79.59 per barrel as of 2:50 p.m. ET.
Source : oilprice.com
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