Margins at the month's end reached weekly records not seen since September, according to the report, which is based on data from the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS).
Regionally, year-over-year changes were highest in the Southeast, where margins [image-nocss] improved about 8 cents to 14.6 CPG, according to the report. Midwest margins improves about 6 cents year over year to 15.0 CPG. And national margins in early February remained healthy in the high teens and were strong across the United States, according to the report release February 17.
The U.S. retail average price for regular gasoline ended January up 2 cents to $2.67 per gallon from $2.65 on December 31, and up 20 cents compared to $2.47 on October 1. Pump prices are now about 80 cents per gallon (43%) higher vs. the same period a year ago.
Meanwhile during the month, the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported U.S. gasoline demand declined 1.4% year over year to about 8.6 million barrels per day. Weekly demand also was negative year over year throughout January (ranging from -0.2% to 04.5%). (Click here to view EIA demand charts.)
(And click here for additional CSP Daily News coverage of current gasoline demand.)
In the report, Morgan Keegan, Memphis, Tenn., concluded that January margins nearly tripled through the month and provide a strong 2010 start ad optimistic near-term outlook across.
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