Oil Prices Continue To Decrease, But That’s Not Indicator Of The

It’s a trend many consumers, and many motorists have enjoyed as of recent; oil prices moving lower. In fact, for the past nine weeks, the price for a barrel of West Texas Crude has dropped to $88 in Monday's trade, an over 4% drop from Sunday's numbers.

Why have oil prices dropped so rapidly over the past two-plus months? Patrick DeHaan with GasBuddy said, it’s a combination of factors, such as economic concerns not only in the U.S. but internationally as well.

“The federal reserve raising interest rates at a pretty substantial pace, and that could curb the economy and the growth in the economy and could cause oil demand to go down. In addition, we have seen supply improving, slowly over the course of the summer, especially when it comes to gasoline, so on both fronts there are concerns about the global economy and also demand that have brought prices down.”

DeHaan noted another variable that could push prices higher, the fact that the United States is in the middle of hurricane season. He added just because oil prices have dropped since early June, motorists can’t assume the trajectory will continue into the future. He noted there are so many complications, pointing to how oil prices made an abrupt U-turn last week.

“The wholesale price of gasoline in some areas jumped 40 cents a gallon out of the blue, on hopes that maybe the economy won’t be slowing down as much as anticipated. In addition, some geopolitical developments kept oil prices under wraps last week. So, it’s very unpredictable.”

Listen to our entire Price at the Pump podcast here:

Pacific Northwest Ag Network: Price at the Pump for 08/16/22 on Apple Podcasts

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