Good morning and welcome to Gas Price Watch! It’s the most important day of the year, in my opinion. Ya know why? It’s MLB Opening Day! After a nearly 100-day lockout I wasn’t sure this day would come, but dammit we are here! My team doesn’t play today (thanks rain), but you can be sure I’m watching everything else. Good luck this season… unless you’re a Red Sox fan.
Anyway, onto gas prices. They’re still continuing their slow march downward. The average price of a gallon of gas is now $4.15. It’s another penny off of yesterday’s average. It’s at least something. I’ll certainly take it.
Something else I’ll take? Oil is now back under $100 a barrel, according to CNN. That could eventually spell good news for us at the pump. It’s due to Western countries moving to release energy oil reserves.
The International Energy Agency announced Wednesday it would supply the oil market with 60 million additional barrels of crude from its emergency stockpiles. The Paris-based IEA, which monitors energy supplies for the world’s leading developed economies, said details would be forthcoming.
The news was enough to send oil prices down more than 5%. US oil tumbled to $96 a barrel, and Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell to $101 a barrel.
The 60 million barrels will come on top of the record 180 million barrels of oil President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the United States would release from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The United States plans to release 1 million SPR barrels a day over the course of the next six months. It’s unclear if the IEA’s plan will coincide with that time frame.
Still, it will take time for that added supply to come to market, and the contributing countries will need to find buyers for their oil. Over the course of the next six months, the release of 240 million barrels of reserved oil would result in an average of roughly 1.3 million barrels per day.
The IEA said Russia could be forced to cut its production by 3 million barrels per day, starting this month, as it struggles to find buyers after the country invaded Ukraine. If that happens, the emergency oil release would make up about 43% of that lost production.
Let’s take a look at today’s winners and losers of the gas price wars.
Here is the highest average gas prices in the country in order of highest price for a gallon regular:
- California - $5.81 Regular | $6.03 Mid | $6.15 Premium | $6.35 Diesel
- Hawaii - $5.23 Regular | $5.44 Mid | $5.69 (nice) Premium | $5.66 Diesel
- Nevada - $5.15 Regular | $5.39 Mid | $5.58 Premium | $5.32 Diesel
- Alaska - $4.72 Regular | $4.91 Mid | $5.08 Premium | $5.17 Diesel
- Washington - $4.70 Regular | $4.93 Mid | $5.11 Premium | $5.54 Diesel
Here is the lowest average price of gasoline in the country in order of lowest price per gallon of regular:
- Missouri - $3.71 Regular | $3.99 Mid | $4.27 Premium | $4.71 Diesel
- Kansas - $3.73 Regular | $3.99 Mid | $4.25 Premium | $4.73 Diesel
- Oklahoma - $3.74 Regular | $4.02 Mid | $4.25 Premium | $4.70 Diesel
- Arkansas - $3.75 Regular | $4.07 Mid | $4.37 Premium | $4.78 Diesel
- Maryland - $3.77 Regular | $4.25 Mid | $4.51 Premium | $4.67 Diesel
See everyone tomorrow, and remember – go Yankees!