Valley gas prices dip slightly

Average price during the week of Dec. 27 — $3.505

Average price during the week of Jan. 4, 2021 — $2.575

Trend analysis

Gasoline prices barely budged over the past week across the country. Today’s national average of $3.28 is the same as last week, eight cents less than a month ago, and $1.03 more than a year ago.

According to new data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total domestic gasoline stocks decreased slightly by 1.5 million barrels to 222.7 million barrels last week. Gasoline demand increased from 8.99 million b/d to 9.72 million b/d. Growing demand and tight supply would support more significant increases in pump prices, but fluctuations in the price of crude oil have helped to limit price increases.

At the close of yesterday’s formal trading session, West Texas Intermediate increased by 87 cents to settle at $76.08. Despite demand concerns over the omicron variant of COVID-19, crude prices have increased since the EIA reported that total domestic oil stocks decreased by 3.6 million barrels last week to 420 million barrels.

Meanwhile, the pre-Christmas fire at the Exxon Mobil Corp plant in Baytown, Texas, is causing some reduced gasoline output. Recent reporting, however, indicates the damage was to a non-refining section of the complex. The plant is the nation’s fourth-biggest oil refinery, with the capacity to process 560,500 barrels per day of crude.