State’s Gasoline Prices Decline
A two-month drop in California’s gasoline prices continued in the week ended Monday, but pump prices turned higher nationwide, the Energy Department said.
The average price for self-serve regular in California fell 3.1 cents to $2.36 a gallon, the lowest level since the price averaged $2.312 a gallon in the week ended March 21, the agency’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly survey.
Several stations in Los Angeles and Orange counties are selling regular gasoline for less than $2.25 a gallon, according to GasBuddy.com, a website that tracks prices.
The state’s average price has dropped 23.2 cents a gallon, or 9%, from its record high of $2.592 reached in the week ended April 11, and it remains 4.4 cents higher than its year-earlier level, the EIA said.
Nationwide, however, the average price edged up 1.9 cents to $2.116 a gallon, snapping a seven-week slide, the agency said.
And the outlook for further declines in pump prices is uncertain because of conflicting trends in the gasoline and crude oil markets.
Gasoline futures prices fell for the second time in three sessions Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, following industry data last week that showed gasoline supplies in late May remained relatively ample. Gasoline for July delivery fell 2.76 cents, or 1.8%, to $1.53 a gallon Monday.
But the price of crude oil, which accounts for about half of gasoline’s cost, has been rebounding in futures trading, although it slipped 54 cents to $54.49 a barrel Monday on the Nymex.
Oil prices have jumped more than $7.50 a barrel, or 16%, since hitting a three-month low of $46.92 a barrel May 19.
Some analysts said oil prices could keep rising -- and test the Nymex’s record closing high of $57.27 a barrel set April 1 -- despite recent data showing rising inventories of oil.
They cited continued strong global demand for oil and refined products, including gasoline and heating oil, and slim spare capacity among suppliers to pump more crude.
Ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies more than one-third of the world’s oil, are meeting next week in Vienna to discuss their production.
Some OPEC officials have indicated the cartel might leave its production at current levels or even boost it slightly, but that a production cut is unlikely.
