(From AAA Mid-Atlantic)
Following last year’s volatility, 2013 has started with relative price stability at the pump, AAA Mid-Atlantic reported.
The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline rose 4 cents over last week to $3.33 Friday, 8 cents more than last month and 5 cents less than one year ago. In the first 25 days of the year, the national average has yet to record a daily price change of a penny or more per gallon.
Average prices in Delaware were up about a nickel from a year ago, ranging from $3.35 to $3.40 a gallon
By comparison, daily prices in December changed by at least that much 15 times. Last January, the daily average moved by a penny or more nine times, including two increases of more than three cents per gallon, which were two of the six largest daily price changes of the year.
In its weekly report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed a 2.8 million barrel increase in crude oil stocks, to 363.1 million barrels, well above the upper limit of five-year range for this time of year. Gasoline stocks fell by 1.7 million barrels to 233.3 million barrels, also well above the upper limit of the five-year average range. Gasoline demand was not as poor as expected. The EIA showed a 111,000 barrel per day increase in demand last week to 8.431 million. The total four-week average gasoline demand figures showed an average 8.3 million barrels a day, a rise of 1.4 percent compared with the same period a year ago.
“Slow, steady increases in crude oil prices over the last two weeks have caused gas prices to inch up a few pennies throughout the region, though AAA continues to believe that the national average price of gasoline in 2013 will be lower than the record average in 2012 ($3.60/gallon),” said Jana L. Tidwell, public affairs Specialist for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “Prices at the pump should remain relatively stable through the remaining weeks of winter ahead of seasonal spring increases in March and April.”
AAA continues to expect that the national average price in 2013 will be less expensive than the record average in 2012 at $3.60 a gallon, and analysts continue to predict that demand destruction is likely to persist even with a recovering economy.
Prices at the pump are expected to remain stable ahead of seasonal spring increases due to the changeover to more-expensive summer blended gasoline. As spring approaches, AAA expects fuel prices to climb through April or early May, peaking in late-spring in the mid to high-$3 range. This should enable prices to drop during the first half of the summer to the low to mid-$3 range.
