EIA: US gasoline reaches highs heading into Fourth of July

July 2, 2014
US national average retail gasoline price on June 30 was $3.70/gal, the highest average heading into the Fourth of July holiday since 2008. Gasoline prices in 2014, however, have remained well below the spring peaks reached in each of the previous 3 years, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

US national average retail gasoline price on June 30 was $3.70/gal, the highest average heading into the Fourth of July holiday since 2008. Gasoline prices in 2014, however, have remained well below the spring peaks reached in each of the previous 3 years, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

“Although prices are currently 20¢/gal higher than last year at this time, prices this year did not peak as high as in recent years because of relatively stable crude oil prices in 2014,” EIA said, adding, “The peak retail gasoline price this year was $3.71/gal on Apr. 29, lower than last year’s spring peak of $3.78/gal, and lower than price peaks in 2011 and 2012.”

So far this year, the average retail price of gasoline has been $3.54/gal, the lowest for the first 6 months of the year since 2011.

Meanwhile, since April, wholesale gasoline prices have increased 3.5% compared with an increase of 7.2% for North Sea Brent. Typically during this time of year, wholesale product prices, including gasoline, tend to decrease as petroleum refineries return to service from seasonal maintenance outages. This year, crude oil prices have increased in part because of unrest in Iraq, a major crude oil producer.

These factors have largely offset each other, leaving retail gasoline prices relatively unchanged, according to EIA. World crude oil prices have fallen by $4/bbl from a 2014 peak of $115/bbl on June 19. If sustained, this should help gasoline prices ease in the coming weeks.