Price At The Pump: Fuel Prices Climb While Oil Prices Hold

Despite renewed attacks between the United States and Iran, the workweek saw oil prices holding steady, with West Texas and Brent Crude both flat to down slightly in Monday’s trade; and then flat to up slightly in Tuesday’s trade.

While those oil prices may not be climbing much, if at all, the same can’t be said about fuel prices.

“As we continue to see Ukraine launch new attacks on Russian oil refineries, we've seen a bit of a disconnect," said Patrick DeHaan, with Gasbuddy.com. "Gasoline and diesel prices climbing at a much faster rate than that of oil, specifically as those refineries have come under attack and have been knocked offline. It's all about refining capacity. There's just not enough of it. And that's why refined product prices are going up. At the same time, oil prices are holding mostly stable.”

As far as Northwest fuel prices are concerned:

Washington’s rate for a gallon of diesel increased 13 cents this week to $5.96
Oregon’s price moved up by seven cents a gallon to $5.36
Idaho motorists are paying $4.80 for a gallon of diesel, a ten-cent increase from this time last week.

This Week Could Be A Busy One

DeHaan stressed don’t let the quiet start to the week fool you when it comes to the future of oil and fuel prices.

“Trump continues to mention the possibility of broader infrastructure attacks by the U.S., and we did see the loss of a couple U.S. service members, and that may bring with it renewed attacks from the U.S. as well," DeHaan said. "So, while it may be a quiet start to the week, I certainly don't expect that is going to last through the week. And I do think oil prices may continue to face a little bit of upward pressure as long as there's not active de-escalations happening.”

DeHaan added 48 states saw fuel prices increase this week; the two exceptions, Alaska and Hawaii.

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