U.S. gasoline prices set to dip
U.S. retail gasoline prices have started to decline in recent days and could drop even further, according to fuel-savings app GasBuddy.
“If you don’t need gas, my suggestion is wait,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, tweeted on Wednesday when international crude oil prices crashed by 4%.
“*LARGE* declines in spot #gasprices coast to coast today will trigger falling retail prices,” De Haan noted.
As of November 4, the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.415, according to data from AAA. The national average gasoline price is 21 cents more than a month ago, $1.27 higher compared to a year ago, and 79 cents more than at this time of the year in 2019.
The crude price rally, the still strong U.S. gasoline demand even after Labor Day, and the falling gasoline inventories across the country have pushed U.S. gasoline prices to a 7-year high in recent weeks.
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Over the past week to November 1, the national average price for a gallon of gas rose to $3.40, but the two-cent increase over the previous week was the smallest weekly increase in a month, AAA said on Monday.
“News that Iranian oil, which has not been sold globally in large quantities since 2018, may return to the world market coupled with an OPEC+ meeting on November 4 via videoconference, is increasing market volatility, but slowing pump price increases, at least for now,” according to AAA.
“We have finally seen a little dip in domestic demand for gasoline, which may signal that the seasonal post-Labor Day easing was a little delayed this year,” AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross commented. “And if the recent steady increase in crude oil prices takes a breather too, consumers may benefit at the pump with smaller price hikes,” Gross added.
The crude price rally did take a breather earlier this week, dragged down by expectations of the Fed’s start of tapering of asset purchases and estimates of increasing U.S. crude oil inventories and higher U.S. oil production.
Oil prices dipped on Wednesday after the EIA reported an oil inventory build of 3.3 million barrels for the week to October 29 and the Fed said it would start tapering asset purchases later in November.
