The U.S. average retail price of regular grade gasoline rocketed 40.8 cents per gallon higher in the past two weeks.
The new price is $1.53 per gallon higher than it was before the Iran war began. One year ago, it is $1.33 higher.
Theis latest surge, and prior retail gasoline price surges, is driven by the global crude oil market, and by an increasingly tight U.S. gasoline market.
U.S. gasoline stocks shrank again, and several refineries remain in maintenance mode in preparation for summer gasoline demand, with added shutdowns of units in need of unscheduled repairs. It has been especially acute in the Midwest.
At the same time, our normal seasonal gasoline consumption increases continue, creating market tightness and price hikes.
In these two weeks, Midwest wholesale gasoline price hikes on regular grade paid by unbranded rack customers include a jump of more than 39 cents per gallon in the past two weeks. Petroleum Administration for Defense District 2's unbranded rack average exceeds $3.01 per gallon.
Lundberg daily surveys by class of trade also show that branded jobber buying prices and jobber-supplied dealer prices rose 32-33 cents per gallon in the region.
Nationally, the wholesale price weighted for all classes of trade leaped 57.3 cents per gallon in the past two weeks. This rendered the apparent average retail gasoline margin on regular grade to an unsustainable 15 cents per gallon.
Retailers getting anywhere near that astoundingly low average margin must soon raise street prices to survive, no matter what the world oil market is doing. Some are already doing so, big time.
Trilby Lundberg is publisher of the Lundberg Survey of U.S. fuel markets. Lundberg Survey Inc. is based in Camarillo, California.
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