One word describes this week’s gas prices – unchanged – and that’s just fine by motorists. The national average price for regular grade gasoline remained at $2.72 a gallon everyday this week through Friday – 23 cents higher than year ago prices, but still $1.39 less than the record of $4.11 set in July 2008. This marks the tenth consecutive week gas prices have remained below $2.90 a gallon.
Crude oil saw modest gains this week and even hit a three-month high early Friday near $80 a barrel supported by news that Tropical Storm Bonnie, the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, will swirl into the Gulf of Mexico near where BP is cleaning up the massive oil spill. Crude retreated briefly mid-week as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed concerns about the U.S. economic recovery, which remains sluggish. And economic uncertainly over results of bank stress tests in Europe caused oil to retreat again Friday morning and closed the week at $78.73.
In its weekly report the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) data showed crude oil stockpiles rose slightly by 400,000 barrels to 353.5 million barrels, against a forecasted drop of 1.4 million barrels. Gasoline inventories rose 1.1 million barrels to 222.2 million barrels, slightly higher than the forecasted 900,000 barrel rise. The EIA also reported a gasoline demand surge of 355,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 9.435 million bpd. Despite the surge, July gasoline demand remains at it’s lowest levels since 2004.
The Weekend
“Gas prices remained virtually unchanged this week, which is welcome news for motorists who plan to take to the road this weekend,” said Tracy E. Noble, Manager of Public and Government Affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “We also saw gasoline demand rebound this week, which could very well be due to the stability we’ve seen at the pumps throughout the summer driving season.”
The Week Ahead
BP has temporarily suspended relief well activities in the Gulf of Mexico due to Tropical Storm Bonnie. All vessels and rigs involved in efforts to cap the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history were ordered out of the storm’s path. BP officials say these actions and the pending storm could delay efforts to kill the well for 10 to 14 days. Relief efforts had been on track to choke off the gushing well by mid-August.
CURRENT AND PAST GAS PRICE AVERAGES
Regular Unleaded Gasoline
7/23/10 | Week Ago | Year Ago | |
National | $2.72 | $2.72 | $2.49 |
New Jersey | $2.57 | $2.58 | $2.37 |
Trenton | $2.62 | $2.63 | $2.40 |
Cape May County | $2.60 | $2.61 | $2.36 |
Burlington County | $2.53 | $2.53 | $2.30 |
Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon | $2.57 | $2.59 | $2.38 |
Monmouth, Ocean Counties | $2.57 | $2.57 | $2.37 |
Crude Oil | $78.73per barrel (close on Friday) | $75.89per barrel (07/16/10) | $68 per barrel |
