Posted on 05/17/2022 12:46:31 PM PDT by blam
Gas prices at the pump hit $4 a gallon in every state for the first time Monday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). This is mainly due to languishing refinery capacity across the US, dwindling fuel stockpiles, and robust demand for gas ahead of the summer driving season.
Kansas, Oklahoma, and Georgia — the last three holdouts — saw prices for regular gas surpass the $4 a gallon mark last night. The national average for a gallon of gasoline is $4.523, another record high. The increase comes as the cost of crude oil now tops $114 a barrel.
In a note to clients on Monday, Goldman Sachs’ commodity analyst Neil Mehta outlined that rising fuel prices were due to a rash of refinery retirements, reduced Russian energy exports, recovering jet fuel demand, and tight global inventories for products, particularly diesel, have supported higher prices at the pump.
Mehta indicated that US fuel product inventories are 10% below a five-year average and refining utilization rates are below normal.
US refining utilization struggles to increase as the driving season nears.
This means tight supplies and rising demand will only push pump prices higher. Wholesale gasoline prices signal that $5 a gallon on a national level is imminent.
Despite record-high gasoline prices, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, said weekly gasoline demand increased by 3% in the past week and was up 1.8% compared to the four-week average.
“Americans clearly aren’t being too discouraged by high gas prices,” De Haan tweeted on Sunday.
Demand destruction has yet to materialize as demand remains above a 20-year average. People still have to drive to work…
Meanwhile, President Biden’s cunning SPR release fails to lower crude prices. SPR levels are dangerously low, at levels not seen since 1987.
All indications point to higher fuel prices at the pump this summer. The most important question is when does demand destruction emerge. So far, not yet.
“And the elites don’t really care.”
Care? Hell! They are orchestrating it!
A wood stove, if you can swing it where you are.
A small coal stove and some bags of coal might make a difference.
A kerosene heater is cost-prohibitive, since they raised the price of kerosene, and cr@pped up the fuel to the point it destroys $15 wicks very quickly.
This isn’t news. It’s been over $4 here ($4.69) for weeks
now. Diesel is up to $6+ here in central New York State.
.......
True but not sure what will happen but rising petro prices will
impact the supply chain and thus the consumer at some point.
Do these diptards ever expect to win another election? Better start warming up their relief pitcher- mail in voting.
People will start moving closer to their jobs...
Over $ 6 / gal. in SF Bay Area.
Demand destruction during inflation is very complicated.
On the one hand folks believe they need to spend money now before it becomes worth less in goods and services.
On the other hand folks feel they need to save for the hard times ahead as inflation eats away at their savings.
I just read 6.03 avg in So. CA.
hit $4 a gallon in every state for the first time Monday,
ANOTHER FJB success story! I believe I’m gettin giddy.
[spit]
$4.41 in SWFL....
I gave 4.18 for premium in OK to feed my supercharged beast this morning with the Kum and Go app discount of 15 cents per gallon. 🤪
Still better than most states
I have a Quicktrip discount too
This man and his handlers are doing what the Deep State wants on a daily basis. Quite frankly most Americans are sick of this man and his incompetent group that seeks to hurt us daily. It is their plan.
Just temporary/s.
I live in an apartment, so a wood stove is out of the question. I used a kerosene heater years ago when Carter was in office. Wouldn't bother with one now that I'm almost 75. Wouldn't be able to lug the jugs of kerosene up the stairs here. If I freeze to death this winter, my two sons are the beneficiaries on my insurance policy, that is, unless they freeze to death too.
The supply chain has already been disrupted. At the Walmart here in Rome, New York, I started seeing empty shelves at least two years before the State locked down for Covid. They moved everything around, and stopped carrying a lot of other brands that you used to be able to get there. They rely mostly on their Great Value products. I don't have access to storage to stock up on extra food, or a separate freezer other than the small one in my apartment's icebox, so ordering off their website for extra stuff isn't really an option. I don't buy Walmart's produce or meat, but get what I need at the two other grocery stores here. Even those have been low on a lot of things for quite a while. Over the past 4 years, whenever I go to this Walmart, it looks like they're having a "going-out-of-business-sale...and I've told the clerks that too.
Soaring prices....but no mean tweets.
“I’m guessing that if you are an Uber or Lyft driver, your margins are shrinking quickly.”
Good point, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, your pizza delivery guy and other similar jobs have been able to supplement income doing that as a second gig/job for many. High gas prices closing that out might be something overlooked.
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