Price At The Pump: Demand Remains Light, Prices Are Low

Oil prices continue their slow move downward. As of Tuesday morning, West Texas Crud was trading just above $59 per barrel, while Bent Crude was holding at in the $62 per barrel range. Patrick DeHaan with Gasbuddy.com noted prices have decreased because demand, globally has decreased. He added the lower oil prices are good news for consumers, and good news for the U.S. strategic oil reserve.

“According to the Energy Information Administration, recent data shows that our strategic petroleum reserve now sits at about 412 million barrels. That's up almost 20 million barrels from where we were last year," DeHaan said. "But all in all, as you mentioned, we've seen kind of a slowdown in demand here, seasonally gasoline demand, relatively sluggish, about 8.3 million barrels a day. That is about 400,000 barrels below where we were last year.”

Fuel Prices Continue To Fall Nationwide

DeHaan added the American consumer is seeing sizeable relief at the pump because of the drop in oil prices.

“The average price of gasoline nationally now just $2.90," DeHaan said. "One has to go back over 1,600 days since the national average has been that low. That brings us back to May of 2021. Diesel prices have been moderating as well across the country. In the last week, the average nationally for diesel down about a nickel."

DeHaan said diesel prices may move higher in the coming weeks because of the need for heating oil in the Northeast. And he added Natural Gas prices have increased, thanks to growing demand due to AI.