This continues to put downward pressure on the price of gasoline, which dropped another two cents last week in the southeastern U.S.
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But Jason Parent, vice president of consulting for The Kent Group Ltd., says last week’s jump in gas prices was because of a “perfect storm” of problems with refineries running at full capacity during peak summer demand season when BP’s refinery unit shut down. But when gas goes up in price, something has to give.
Experts say that lower crude oil prices are the reason for the price drop, and that more price cuts could be on the way. But less supply could mean higher prices for a while. “Prices have risen in Great Lakes states at paces rivaling and exceeding prior records”.
From there, it plummeted, reaching its low-point for that period of $33.87/b after only three months.
Even the lowest oil prices in around six years do not guarantee a cheaper August road trip in Michigan, and experts are blaming it on reports of technical problems at an Indiana refinery.
The AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said the average gallon of gas costs $2.999 – up from $2.490 a week ago and down from $3.498 a year ago.
The largest refinery responsible for providing fuel to the Great Lakes region and the Central United States experienced an unexpected shutdown. “High prices will last a few weeks, unless Tropical Depression 4 turns into a formidable storm and targets the Corpus-to-Pascagoula, Miss., refinery row”. The average price per gallon of unleaded self-serve gas rose by about eight cents, with customers in the Midwest seeing the biggest increases.
In the meantime, new supplies are expected to flow north into the Midwest from Gulf Coast refineries, despite congestion on major north-south pipelines, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said this morning. Harbeson, meanwhile, had the highest average per gallon gas price at $2.79.
Market fundamentals, however, continue to indicate future price decreases because of global oversupply.
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As of 9:27 a.m., West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading at $42.11 per barrel, compared to a 52-week range of $41.35 to $92.26.
