Gas prices in Delaware jump overnight; tighter supplies suspected

The jump, which may not yet be reflected in average prices,  appeared to be led by Royal Farms of Baltimore and Wawa, headquartered in Delaware County, PA. Prices jumped as much as 12 cents from Labor  Day. 

 

 Both have been in a battle for key intersections in Delaware while spending millions of dollars each on sprawling convenience stores with gas pumps.  

 

The  Gas Buddy  website, which uses crowd-sourcing from motorists in listing prices,  reported $2.85 a gallon charges at Wawas and Royal Farms stores across the state, with lower prices at some independent stations.

 

A statement from AAA’s national office cited tightening supplies on the East Coast as the reason for the price spike.

 

It is possible that the increase is the result of a recent drop in East Coast refinery utilization. in August, to 89 percent- a drop that may be related to the unplanned shutdown of a  Phillips 66’s refinery in the New York area last month, according to AAA.

“With tightened supply in the region, the impact is likely just now catching up to prices at the pump. It looks like prices are slowly starting to creep up in other parts of the Northeast, although Delaware has definitely seen the largest overnight increase,” AAA stated.

Gordon, which weakened into a tropical depression as it made landfall on the Alabama-Mississippi border,  led to the evacuation of some offshore oil rigs. Crude oil prices remained fairly steady amid  indications of ample supplies  at the key terminal in Cushing, OK. 

 

Gas  prices are still down from their summer peak, despite strong demand. 

 

Motorists took advantage of these stable and lower prices by driving gasoline demand to its highest level ever on record for the week ending August 24, according to the Energy Information Administration, AAA noted.