CAMARILLO, Calif. -- Retail gasoline prices added 3.11 cents per gallon to the U.S. average price of self-serve regular, which sits at $2.3319, according to the most recent Lundberg Survey of approximately 7,000 U.S. gas stations. That is a total increase at the pump of nearly 20 cents since the bottoming out back on December 2.
Crude, if it stays near last Friday's close of above $68 per barrel, will add several pennies more to gasoline. Even if it does not, the U.S. Environmental Protection [image-nocss] Agency (EPA)-required reformulations in 2006 (lower sulfur in gasoline and, symbiotically affecting all fuels, ultra-low diesel fuel) plus the Energy Bill's mandate for more ethanol sales spell higher gasoline costs.
Additionally, as we exit January, the lowest consumption month, the pressure on supply will build and support price.
Retail gasoline margin recovered in the past two weeks, while refiner margins bled. Skimpy refining margins will urge the completion of crude oil price hike passthrough, especially given this year's added costs from post-hurricane, extra-heavy refining maintenance projects and government-driven reformulations.
Current headlines concerning OPEC member nations are arresting oil traders' attention by the hour. Crude is, as much as ever, the wildest card in the gasoline price.
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