Gas prices seen rising sharply within days

[Omaha Steve]

Source: NBC News

Gasoline is expected to jump 10 to 20 cents per gallon in the next several days, as rising oil prices and peak driving season create a perfect storm for higher prices.


Industry experts say gasoline prices at the pump should follow the already higher prices in the spot wholesale market. The national average at the pump Wednesday was $3.50 per gallon for unleaded gasoline, up two cents from Tuesday's level, according to AAA's Fuel Gauge report.

Prices in the spot market, which are quickly passed on to the retail market, are 30 to 61 cents higher per gallon than they were June 28, according to Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with GasBuddy. "Even if it were to stop where it is today, we're looking at a considerably sticker shock for people at the pump," Kloza said.

Retail gas prices were higher a month ago, at $3.63 per gallon but they had fallen and were at $3.47 per gallon last week, according to AAA.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/gas-prices-seen-rising-sharply-within-days-6C10599654

[hobbit709]

1. Jumped 15 cents since Tues afternoon here.

[onehandle]

2. Darn. I knew I should have filled up yesterday. nt

[Crow73]

3. Market speculation

Now that is free market..

[wordpix]

6. oil speculators betting on the Quebec train derailment & new Gulf oil spill to make them some $

They love to profit off other people's disasters.

[TBF]

24. +1 ... nt

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Sure was a different story the first of the year....

http://news.yahoo.com/gasoline-prices-predicted-fall-2013-193421544--finance.html

Gasoline prices predicted to fall in 2013

Forecasters say ample oil supplies and weak U.S. demand will keep a lid on prices. The lows will be lower and the highs won't be so high compared with a year ago. The average price of a gallon of gasoline will fall 5 percent to $3.44, according to the Energy Department.

"Everything is lining up to lead to softer prices this year," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

That would still be the third-highest average price ever. But a discount of 19 cents per gallon from 2012 would save the typical household $205 this year and free up $25 billion that could go instead to restaurants, malls or movie theaters — the kind of consumer spending that accounts for 70 percent of American economic activity.

[LittleGirl]

5. because they can !!!

it's sickening how they raise the prices willy nilly.

[heaven05]

7. well

let's just see, if the prices get too high, will the head occupant of 1600 order a release of reserves to ease the crunch, or will he, as the last occupant of that house, do nothing and just leave us mired in another part of this economic quicksand pit called 'the free market'. Yeah free to rip us off at their leisure and for any contrived reason. Nothing about this system will ever really change..

[Lugnut]

8. I'm filling up today before it gets worse.

I'm sick of this crap.

[jimlup]

9. I support higher gasoline prices but...

These day to day and week to week wild gyrations in the price are absurd. The f...ing gas supply companies could buffer these and stop this nonsense simply enough but they don't.

Why the hell not? I'd be more than willing to pay an average of $0.10 per gallon more just to be insulated from the day to day gyrations. Hell, if I owned property, I'd consider installing my own larger gas tank just to insulate myself from this silliness. It's an example of capitalism out of control imo.

[xtraxritical]

10. Gas prices are never below $4/gal. in Ca. and we have refineries here.

The whole thing is a monopoly by the oligopoly from OPEC to the corner gas station.

[shanti]

11. Not true

I just paid $3.89 a gallon yesterday in Sacramento, and this was Chevron, not Arco or Costco, which are cheaper.

[xtraxritical]

18. Not so in So. Cal..

[shanti]

20. You said California, not Southern California

This is a big state....just clarifying that point.

Anyway.....

[obama2terms]

12. That's weird

Gas went down in Tn. I paid like 3.69 a gallon about a week ago. And I filled up my tank yesterday and paid 3.40 a gallon. I guess it depends on where you live. Well if it does go up again, at least I got a full tank before it did!

[NickB79]

13. There was a very sharp drop in US oil inventories yesterday

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/oil-heads-toward-107-after-sharp-drop-in-u-s-crude-inventories/

The contract vaulted $2.99 to $106.52 on Wednesday after the Energy Department said U.S. crude supplies fell by 9.9 million barrels in the week ended July 5. Gasoline supplies fell by 2.6 million barrels. The price of oil has shot up $11 a barrel in two weeks on rising demand in the U.S. and political upheaval in the Middle East.

In the past two weeks, oil supplies have dropped 20.2 million barrels, which is slightly more than one day’s consumption for the U.S., while gasoline supplies have fallen 4.3 million barrels.

Over the same time, demand in the U.S., the world’s largest consumer of gasoline, rose sharply after months of weakness. Demand rose 4 per cent compared with the same period last year, to 9.3 million barrels per day.

It appears that, in addition to turmoil in the Middle East, we're also seeing increased consumption of oil lately, as would be expected if the economy were improving.

[Purveyor]

14. Mid-michigan prices have gone from 3.53 to, just this morning, 3.85 in one week.

[PasadenaTrudy]

15. Dropping here

in SoCal...

[u4ic]

16. $5.48 a gallon at some stations here

that's 144.9/litre, jumping up 8 cents a litre overnight.

Some are still at 135.9/litre,5.14/gallon, so hoping they'll be a gas war and prices will head down again. They've been steady at $135.9/litre since around May.

Bastards.

[RebelOne]

17. Lowest gas prices range from $3.27 to $3.31 here in North Georgia..

I paid $3.33 last week at the local QT.

[Behind the Aegis]

19. They fell again here in NE OK. (range is $3.28 to $3.05)

[TBF]

25. It stays pretty low w/all the refineries around here -

I tend to use brand-name gas (Chevron mostly if it's convenient) and those brands are about $3.29 here - at the supermarkets w/discounts and generic brands are lower. But I filled up a couple of days ago so it could be higher today. (I am in the Houston area)

[question everything]

21. Expected? How about have been?

Funny thing, last week the news was talking about price falling as they do during the summer (really?)

And then, Monday morning a neighboring station was at 3.24. By noon time - 3.45 which was over the area. Yesterday I saw 3.59. Today I am afraid to look.

[GliderGuider]

22. Canadian prices up .06/liter (.20/gal) this morning. nt

[Omaha Steve]

23. Friday morning in Omaha was 20 cents a gallon more

Glad we filled up the same day I posted this.

[Posteritatis]

27. Nationwide? They did in Nova Scotia, but we have price controls. (nt)