What has occurred is that supply swelled as our domestic refinery capacity came back on line after recovering from hurricane damage and gasoline imports flooded in to help fill the demand.
This ratcheting down of allowable sulfur adds to costs and also strains the refining system. In 2006, the EPA could well cost gasoline consumers more than Hurricane Katrina did.
I don't think it has peaked and I don't think an increase in oil production immediately can offset the immediate up pressures that exist specific to the U.S. gasoline market.
Katrina damage remains a crimp on gas supplies, but we've had a major comeback by the oil industry since she hit,
It can't last, ... Wholesale gasoline prices are already responding to the crude oil price hikes, and are on the way up, so a turnaround at the pump can be expected fairly quickly.
I think it's over. The slightly higher crude oil prices combined with a recovery in gasoline demand is ending the retail gasoline price crash.
I think two factors to look at in considering the rise are crude oil prices and gas demand.
The prospects for the near term at the pump are most likely for further declines ... unless there should be a supply disruption,
The reason that prices are moderating is that both crude oil and gasoline supplies are enhanced,
Those that can will do so, either officially -- as Saudi Arabia has -- or unofficially, simply because of the temptation of higher prices,
Very low crude prices have been working their way through to the gas pump, and the economic problems elsewhere, particularly in Asia, have created a glut of oil,
Crude oil prices have been working their way through to the pump, and gasoline demand growth in June -- over June 2004 -- fueled the price hikes,
The supply and demand were grossly out of balance and remain somewhat out of balance in the gas market, ... But that balance is normalizing as refining capacity is brought back up.
Dealers are losing their profit margins, cutting prices to get sales,
This is really a resumption of the 22-cent decline since the peak price, back on May 21,
This is a manifestation of what has occurred in the world oil market, despite OPEC production cuts,
All point to lower prices at the pump,
The new specifications coming from different regulatory bodies have a cumulative effect, and some of them are seasonal.
That price surge is due to the supply shrinkage caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Gasoline price changes are lagging behind those of crude, and there's more catching up to do,
For the near future, however, any future price cuts are likely to be much smaller than what we've seen in the last month.
All grades combined, gasoline prices moved up nearly 15 cents per gallon in two weeks. That price is $2.52. The biggest seller, self-service regular, is about $2.50 per gallon, and it's also up about 15 cents per gallon in two weeks.
The gasoline price has broken records repeatedly in 2005, but until September 9 it did not exceed the true all-time high.
The drop is mostly from refining capacity comeback and, to a lesser degree, lower demand.
