Price at the Pump: Tight Inventories Pushing Prices Higher

Oil prices have moved higher over the past couple of weeks, but not for the reasons we’ve seen this year. Patrick DeHaan with Gasbuddy.com said this most recent increase is due to global oil inventories that are a bit tight right now.

“Some of the refined product inventories, including diesel, are now 23% below the five-year average and that's why you may be noticing higher diesel prices," DeHaan said. "Having said all of that, there's not a whole lot of impact from Trump threatening new tariffs. The market kind of shrugging off that. Certainly in weeks and months past, Trump has also backed off on some of those threats.”

Strength In The American Economy Also Pushing Oil Prices Higher

DeHaan says the concern over the tight supply is a complete 180 from the concerns of a glut of oil expressed by investors just a few weeks ago. He also added it’s not just inventories pushing oil prices higher.

“In addition, we're seeing better than expected data on the U.S. economy in terms of the pace of growth. So certainly, some good news there. I still think that there are some worries that the glut of crude oil could emerge here by later this year as global inventories increase.”

As of Tuesday morning, West Texas Crude was trading lower at $66 per barrel, while Brent Crude down as well, trading around $69 per barrel.