Price at the Pump: Issues Beyond Trade Pushing Oil Prices Lower

Turbulence continues to be the name of the game for oil investors.  West Texas Crude and Brent were trading down by roughly 2% in Monday’s action.  Patrick DeHaan with Gasbuddy.com said thanks to new developments over the past couple of days, it’s not just tariffs and trade wars impacting oil prices.

“Including the potential of a deal between the U.S. and Iran and nuclear deal that has been talked about for quite some time now," DeHaan said.  "As well as an Easter breakthrough between Russia and Ukraine.  While I'm a little bit pessimistic on the potential for a ceasefire. There was a ceasefire over Easter between Russia and Ukraine and that can segue into somewhat of a deal potentially.”  

DeHaan added ongoing trade tension between the U.S. and China continues to wear on the minds of oil investors.  He says while it may feel like there’s nothing but negative news when it comes to oil prices, he says fuel prices continue to decline, which is good news for consumers.

“The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is down 5 ½ cents from a week ago, the national average now sits at about $3.09 a gallon, that's 55 cents lower than last year," DeHaan noted. "And anyone doing the math at home will notice Americans are Spending about $212 million less on gasoline today than a year ago. Of course, some of the reason why it's not always positive.  The price of diesel also declining a couple of cents a gallon in the last week.  The national average for diesel now at about $3.52 a gallon, that's also down from last year.” 

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