Gasoline prices have climbed back to pre-pandemic levels

[left-of-center2012]

The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and easing restrictions tied to the pandemic have helped improve demand for gasoline, outweighing the usual seasonal weakness in consumption for the fuel, and lifting prices to pre-pandemic levels.

“As the country continues to mend from Covid, demand has increased and oil prices rallied on concerns the increase in demand may not be quickly matched by an increase in oil production,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at travel and navigation app GasBuddy.

The average price for regular gasoline was at $2.471 a gallon late Friday morning, up 4.3 cents from a week ago and up 19 cents from a month ago, according to GasBuddy. Gasoline prices at the pump have surpassed the year-ago level of $2.464 a gallon. De Haan thinks gas prices still have “room to climb nearly everywhere in the weeks and months ahead, and perhaps especially this spring and summer, should we continue to see Covid recovery.”

Demand in the winter months for gasoline tends to slow, and prices are generally lower, as cold weather can curtail travel. “Typically, this is the time of year gasoline demand softens seasonally, but that normal seasonality has been mostly offset by the fact that millions are receiving or have Covid vaccines, coupled with states that are reopening after the holiday,” said De Haan.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/retail-gasoline-prices-have-climbed-back-to-pre-pandemic-levels-but-arent-done-climbing-yet-11612545507

[chowder66]

1. Yes they have. I got gas here in L.A. yesterday $3.89 per gallon. nt

[Ron Green]

2. As long as it's under $5 a gallon, the status of consumption, road building, zoning and development

will remain as it's been since WW2. Our built environment has been driven by cheap oil and fear of the Other, and that's not likely to change anytime soon - despite increasingly dire predictions from scientists and future-watchers.