The futures contract for WTI near-month closed within one penny of its price of three weeks ago: $88.02 on December 17, spiked to above $91 a few times, then dropped [image-nocss] back down to $88.03 on January 7.
If crude cooperates, the retail gasoline price hikes will slow further and many even become decreases, because of special gasoline market factors: January is our lowest consumption month, and supplies are abundant. Add to that the likely increase in gasoline exports from foreign refiners attracted to recently high prices in the United States, and our oversupply of gasoline may grow deep enough to usher in a price slide.
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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