UPDATE: The article below reflects February 18 data. As of 1:00 p.m. Eastern today (Tuesday, February 22), WTI is catching up to Brent and other crudes, exceeding $95 per barrel. Since Friday, Midwest unbranded gasoline racks have leaped 15 cents to $2.75; diesel up 12 cents to $3.00. They have moved the same amounts in the West, to $2.95 for unbranded gasoline and $3.02 for unbranded diesel. Retail margin have been slashed to ribbons in many locations. Cause: Violence in Libya continues, and the oil market is shuddering under potential trouble across several oil exporting nations.
CAMARILLO, [image-nocss] Calif. -- The February 18 retail price of regular grade is $3.1791 per gallon on a U.S. average basis, up 5.31 cents from February 4, according to the most recent Lundberg Survey of approximately 2,500 U.S. gas stations.
It is up a total of 54.7 cents since September 24. That whack comes from higher oil prices (from the Federal Reserve's dollar-weakening moves to expand the money supply added to petroleum demand growth in many developing countries).
So does this latest nickel. But it isn't obvious, because the common U.S. oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude is so glutted that it did not respond much at all to current upheaval and violence in several countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Other world crudes have, however, costing more for U.S. refiners that import them and damaging refiners' margin on gasoline. Retail margins shrank as well, nearly two cents to just 7.83 per gallon on regular grade. The all-grades pooled retail margin is a low 8.69 cents.
Retail and refiner margin recovery may well add 5-10 cents per gallon at the pump in coming days. If problems in the hottest oil producing regions of the world grow worse, many world crudes will zoom and American motorists will see the impact on the street.
There were dramatic regional differences in wholesale and retail gasoline prices during the past two weeks. At retail, about one-third of cities surveyed had price hikes of more than a dime. Nearly all were in the West, where two major refineries have had repair/maintenance issues. In PADD 5 over the two weeks, unbranded jumped 18 cents; jobber-supplied dealer prices rose 15 cents, branded rack nearly that much, and direct dealer prices rose 13 cents. But in the Midwest, usually the leader in directional price changes, unbranded rose just 4 cents, branded rack rose 2.5; wholesale prices for other channels actually slipped since February 4.
Camarillo, Calif.-based Lundberg Survey Inc. is an independent market research company specializing in the U.S. petroleum marketing and related industries.
(Click here for previous Lundberg Survey columns in CSP Daily News.)
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