The average gasoline price in the United States rose for a fifth consecutive week as oil prices rallied and WTI Crude hit $88 per barrel, according to the latest analysis of fuel-savings app GasBuddy.
The average national gasoline price was $3.34 per gallon as of Monday, January 31, up by 2.9 cents from a week ago, GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations showed. The national average is up 6.8 cents from a month ago and 92.8 cents per gallon higher than at this time last year. The national average price of diesel has jumped by 4.1 cents in the last week and now stands at $3.70 per gallon – a fresh multi-year high.
Per AAA data, the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.366 on January 31. This compares with $3.285 a month ago, and with $2.422 a year ago. Gasoline prices are rising as crude oil prices rally.
“The price of oil pushed into territory unseen in over seven years as WTI crude hit $88 per barrel, which continues to drag gasoline prices higher. With continued concerns over geopolitical tensions and crude oil supply, the small yet noticeable increases are likely to continue,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
“The only factor keeping gas prices from rising more substantially is that gasoline demand remains low as winter storms keep motorists closer to home. Once the weather starts to turn and warm gradually, we’ll lose the only restraint to larger price increases,” De Haan added.
Still, gasoline demand in the U.S. rebounded last week from an eight-month low in the previous week, De Haan said in GasBuddy’s estimates for the week ending Saturday, January 29. Weekly U.S. gasoline demand rose by 6.2 percent from the prior week and was 1.9 percent above the four-week rolling average, according to GasBuddy data.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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They complain when a US gallon costs $3.366 ($90/litre) compared with $2.0 per litre in the UK and Europe.
Moreover, if the Biden administration is keen on energy transition, then rising gasoline prices is one sure way of reducing demand for oil and aiding the cause of energy transition.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London