Normal gasoline averaged $3.04 per gallon: AAA
The White House on Friday moved to quell concerns of gasoline costs on Memorial Day Weekend surging above $3 per gallon for the first time in seven decades.
Regular gasoline averaged $3.04 per gallon nationwide on Friday, according to AAA. Costs, which are the highest for Memorial Day Weekend because 2014, were 1.08 more expensive than a year ago, when demand was depressed as a result of COVID-19.
“While prices have risen in the lows past year–as need radically dipped–prices at only about $3 per gallon are still nicely in-line with what they’ve been in recent decades,” press secretary Jen Psaki stated in a statement.
Gasoline demand has risen sharply this year as a result of pent-up requirement as Americans eliminated nonessential journey when sheltering at home to help slow down the spread of COVID-19.
Demand destruction, coupled with the price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, in April 2020 led to crude oil prices temporarily crashing below zero, dragging gasoline prices lower.
But demand has recently climbed to a 16-month high, based on Stephen Schork, editor of The Schork Report, as more Americans received the vaccine and states started to reopen their economies. At precisely the same time, supply forward cover has dropped to some 19-month low of 23 days.
While Schork claims the Biden administration is correct in its claim that prices are in line with where they have been in recent decades, he warns the groundwork has been laid for keeping prices higher for more.
“There are valid concerns for down the road,” Schork said. “Things that will return to bite the administration with respect to making it harder for pipelines to be constructed, for infrastructure to be built.”
