Monday, September 26, 2022

Gas and oil price update: good news and bad news

 

 -  by New Deal democrat

We’ll get some important house price information tomorrow, but there is no economic news of significance today, so let’s update gas and oil prices.


As indicated in the title, there’s good news and bad news. I’ll start with the bad news first.

According to GasBuddy, gas prices have not declined in over a week:




They have bounced off $3.64/gallon and stabilized at $3.66-7/gallon. Which still is only about $.20 higher than they were back in February.

But here’s the good news, in the form of a screen shot of oil prices this morning:



I have no idea whatsoever why oil prices suddenly declined further, or whether this will last, but as of now, oil prices are only about $3/barrel (or roughly $.06/gallon) higher than they were 1 year ago.

A comparison with the last year in gas prices:


suggests that, if oil prices continue in the $78/barrel range, gas prices will decline to roughly $3.25/gallon in the next several weeks.

Needless to say, if that happens, that is more money in the pockets of consumers to be saved, or spent on other things. It also means both consumer confidence and, politically, approval of President Joe Biden, will also increase - right before the midterm elections.