The Energy Information Administration reports that for the third week in a row, the U.S. average price for regular gasoline declined. Settling at $2.66 per gallon, the average fell more than four cents, to 77 cents above last year. The West Coast average, consisting of prices from Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, fell three cents to $2.91 per gallon and the price in California slipped three cents to $2.98 per gallon.
     Diesel prices also dropped for the third consecutive week in all regions of the country, with the national average falling a nickel to $2.78 per gallon, still 54 cents above a year ago. A drop of four cents took the average on the West Coast to $2.88 per gallon, while the average in California slipped four cents to $2.95 per gallon.
     In early January domestic crude oil reached $82.74 per barrel, but Friday the product settled at $71.19 per barrel, down $1.95 for the day and some $1.80 below last Friday's settlement. This downward price trend appears to make sense considering the plentiful supply of crude oil in storage and continuing low refinery runs. 
     The Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) reports that oil prices experienced one of their biggest single-day drops in six months on Thursday. Crude oil was down by nearly $4 per barrel, possibly attributed to another wake of jobless data that pointed to more claims than expected.
     Domestic refiners ran their plants at a 77.7% clip, a drop of 0.8% from the previous week. The operating rate is the lowest since storm-inspired refinery downtime in September of 2008. Looking beyond storm-related shutdowns, the operable capacity is the lowest on record for U.S. refiners as EIA data goes back as far as 1990.
     OPIS points out another multi-year low that stood out was the four-year gasoline demand average. Over the last four weeks, gasoline demand averaged 8.644 million bbl, down a half-percent versus last year. But the most recent four-week average of 8.644 million barrels per day is the lowest since the four weeks ending Feb. 13, 2004.  

Chris Nobles
Commercial Fueling
Nella Oil Company