Thursday, June 19, 2008

More Upward Pressure on Oil Prices

The following charts are from This Week in Petroleum."



Oil inventory is at the lower end of its historical range.



Gas stocks are at the low end of their historical range.

As a result of lower supplies....



Gas prices are at record highs, as are



Diesel prices.

Consider the following news from the same report:

The U.S. average retail price for regular gasoline moved up to yet another record high. The jump of 4.3 cents was the twelfth consecutive weekly increase, bringing the price to 408.2 cents per gallon, a surge of 82.3 cents since March 24. The average price for the East Coast increased 3.3 cents to 405.2 cents per gallon. The Midwest price rose 1.5 cents to 399.7 cents per gallon. The Gulf Coast price grew 2.8 cents to 393.7 cents per gallon, once again remaining the lowest of any region. In the Rocky Mountain region, the price jumped 5.3 cents to 399.4 cents per gallon. The price rise on the West Coast was sharply higher than the other regions, surging 12.7 cents to hit 445.2 cents per gallon. The average price in California soared 15.5 cents to reach a record 458.8 cents per gallon.