I thought we would flirt with $3.00 gal gasoline, but this morning the national number crossed the $3.00 gal threshold for the fourth time this decade (and fourth time in the history of the automotive engine), averaging $3.004 gal yesterday according to data compiled by OPIS for the AAA.
Prices first topped $3.00 gal in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in early September 2005. They again surpassed that mark in July and August 2006 before falling sharply and then rallied to $3.227 gal by Memorial Day weekend 2007 before faltering later in the Summer. Prices are now about 22.3cts gal below their record highs but they are higher than they have ever been for the months of October through April in any year.
The $3.004 gal national average represents a 23.1cts gal increase in the last 30 days and it is 80.2cts gal above prices one year ago. That translates into a 2007 gasoline bill that is about $310-million/day higher than on the same day in 2006. The cheapest prices show up in New Jersey where the average retail number is $2.79 gal and the highest prices surface in California where $3.255 gal is the standard.
Much higher numbers are witnessed for diesel. The average retail diesel price has shattered records each successive day in November and today stands at $3.326 gal. That is up 25.7cts gal in one month, and is some 88.2cts gal above the diesel pump price one year ago.
I’ll have more comments on these numbers as the week wears on. Today should be a shaky day for oil markets since the financial markets are hemorrhaging quite severely in the aftermath of yet another huge investment bank pointing to a $10-billion to $11-billion writedown of bad credit.
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About Tom Kloza
Tom has been writing about downstream oil markets since 1975 and was among the founders of OPIS over 25 years ago. A magna cum laude graduate of St. Francis University, Tom has a degree in English and has covered and analyzed crude oil, refined products, and gas liquids for more than 30 years. He has written about oil for a number of publications including Oil Buyers’ Guide, Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, Convenience Store News, CSP, and Convenience Store Decisions. He has also written commentary for Marketwatch and is a regular guest commentator for Bloomberg Financial Markets and NPR Marketplace.
He provides expert commentary for print and electronic media during times of oil volatility, and is regularly quoted in USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, BusinessWeek, Newsweek, and numerous other periodicals throughout the country. He has commented specifically on OPEC matters and U.S. gasoline and diesel prices for the BBC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, CBS News, and ABC. He is also a frequent guest lecturer on fuel price economics at a number of colleges and universities as well as for key petroleum associations. He has also appeared live on camera in energy forums for CNBC, Nightline, the CBS Morning Show, and Good Morning America.