NEW YORK - U.S. average retail gasoline prices fell 3.64 cents per gallon in the last two weeks as high unemployment stifled demand, according to an industry analyst who sees more price declines in the coming months.
The national average price for regular grade gasoline was $2.6477 a gallon as of November 20, according to the nationwide Lundberg survey of about 5,000 service stations.
During the two weeks since the last survey on November 6, crude oil prices fell slightly along with refiner and retailer mark-ups, according to survey editor Trilby Lundberg.
Crude oil on Friday fell 74 cents to settle at $76.72 per barrel for the front-month contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Lundberg noted that a great deal of the price pressure has come from weak consumer demand.
"It's a miserable gasoline market hurting refiners and retailers," Lundberg said. "Demand for gasoline is down because of the still-declining level of employment in the United States."
This is hurting profit margins at retailers and refiners, who are using less refinery capacity, she said.
"U.S. refiners have closed down more than one fifth of their total capacity and a great deal of that idling of capacity is due not to operational glitches, but due to poor demand for refined products such as gasoline," she added.
Lundberg said that while U.S. demand for gasoline always falls in the winter, the trend will be exacerbated this year by high unemployment and a poor comparison of current prices to pump prices at the same time last year.
"During most of 2009, motorists paid a price that felt like a discount because throughout the year it was below its one-year-ago level," Lundberg said.
The November 6 survey showed a reverse in this trend with a 39 cents per gallon price increase from a year ago. But with November 20 prices up 68 cents from a year earlier, motorists will be even less inclined to go out on the road, Lundberg said.
"The impact of all that is that probably unless we have a crude oil price hike, gasoline pump prices will probably decline further," Lundberg said. "We can expect more demand shrinkage in future because November demand always comes in below October's and December comes in below November. January is the lowest gasoline demand month of the year."
Cheyenne, Wyoming boasted the lowest price per gallon in the United States at $2.38, according to the survey while Anchorage, Alaska was the most costly at $3.30 per gallon.
The national average price for regular grade gasoline was $2.6477 a gallon as of November 20, according to the nationwide Lundberg survey of about 5,000 service stations.
During the two weeks since the last survey on November 6, crude oil prices fell slightly along with refiner and retailer mark-ups, according to survey editor Trilby Lundberg.
Crude oil on Friday fell 74 cents to settle at $76.72 per barrel for the front-month contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Lundberg noted that a great deal of the price pressure has come from weak consumer demand.
"It's a miserable gasoline market hurting refiners and retailers," Lundberg said. "Demand for gasoline is down because of the still-declining level of employment in the United States."
This is hurting profit margins at retailers and refiners, who are using less refinery capacity, she said.
"U.S. refiners have closed down more than one fifth of their total capacity and a great deal of that idling of capacity is due not to operational glitches, but due to poor demand for refined products such as gasoline," she added.
Lundberg said that while U.S. demand for gasoline always falls in the winter, the trend will be exacerbated this year by high unemployment and a poor comparison of current prices to pump prices at the same time last year.
"During most of 2009, motorists paid a price that felt like a discount because throughout the year it was below its one-year-ago level," Lundberg said.
The November 6 survey showed a reverse in this trend with a 39 cents per gallon price increase from a year ago. But with November 20 prices up 68 cents from a year earlier, motorists will be even less inclined to go out on the road, Lundberg said.
"The impact of all that is that probably unless we have a crude oil price hike, gasoline pump prices will probably decline further," Lundberg said. "We can expect more demand shrinkage in future because November demand always comes in below October's and December comes in below November. January is the lowest gasoline demand month of the year."
Cheyenne, Wyoming boasted the lowest price per gallon in the United States at $2.38, according to the survey while Anchorage, Alaska was the most costly at $3.30 per gallon.
