Retail Gasoline Prices Rising, Lundberg Says
Retail gasoline prices, after a five-month decline, are on a historically unprecedented upswing for this time of year, an oil analyst said Sunday in Los Angeles.
“This Mother’s Day increase reflects an earlier-than-usual price boost” normally associated with Memorial Day, said Dan Lundberg, who added that this has never happened at this time of year.
“Crude oil prices broke at a $15-a-barrel level, the highest price in three months. Retail gasoline moved swiftly upward as well. This development ends an uninterrupted retail decline of 31 cents a gallon since last December. It bottomed out two weeks ago at an overall average for all grades at 89.96 cents a gallon.”
Nevertheless, Lundberg, who conducts a semiweekly survey of gasoline prices nationwide, said this year’s May prices remain about 30 cents a gallon lower than last year’s prices.
During the weekend, the upturn of 2.33 cents a gallon brought the new 50-state average to 92.29 cents a gallon, Lundberg said. There is still a larger increase of 3.38 cents a gallon at wholesale, indicating that a pump price of another penny a gallon is in the immediate future.
More Increases Expected
“But as Memorial Day approaches,” he said, “the increase, if seasonally true to form, could bring on another 4- to 5-cent increase, especially pressured by the nation’s exceptionally low inventory of gasoline stocks.”
A notable unseasonal increase in driving has already taken place, he said, with the promise of still more to come as many Americans plan to vacation in the United States rather than overseas.
Regular leaded and unleaded grades of gasoline still hover well below a dollar, at 79.36 cents for regular leaded, 85.39 cents for regular unleaded and 99.78 cents for premium unleaded. Those are average prices at self-service pumps. Full-service prices average out at $1.1263 a gallon, which represents a 26.28-cent fee for sitting in your car, Lundberg said.
Gasoline is cheaper in the Southwest by more than 6 cents a gallon for regular leaded and 9 cents for unleaded, he said. It’s most expensive on the Pacific Coast, averaging 7 cents higher for regular leaded, 10.5 cents for regular unleaded and 9.8 cents for premium unleaded.
