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| Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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Pump prices remain high, crude drops
Published October 2, 2008
Even as oil prices dipped below $100 a barrel Wednesday local consumers felt little relief at the pump where prices remain well above the national average.
In Scottsboro a gallon of unleaded regular fuel averaged $3.932 on Wednesday. Nationally the price fell 1.4 cents overnight to a new average of $3.619, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Prices Information Service and Wright Express. Prices reached a record $4.114 a gallon on July 17.
The local price was up almost 13 cents from a week ago and almost 30 cents in the last month. A gallon of gasoline cost $3.194 six months ago and only $2.749 at the same time last year.
The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude stocks rose by 4.3 million barrels, or 1.5 percent, to 294.5 million barrels for the week ending Sept. 26.
At the same time, gasoline inventories rose by 900,000 barrels, or 0.5 percent, to 179.6 million barrels. Analysts expected stockpiles of the motor fuel to fall in the range of 1 million to 3 million barrels.
Fuel consumption for the four-week period ended Sept. 26 reached about 19 million barrels a day, down 7 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the EIA.
Senate leaders scheduled a vote for Wednesday on a version of the emergency rescue bill that adds substantial tax cuts meant to appeal to Republicans when it reaches the House of Representatives. The House rejected a similar plan Monday by a vote of 228-205.
U.S. energy demand continues to wane, according to the weekly EIA report. Demand for gasoline over the four weeks ended Sept. 26 was 4.5 percent lower than a year earlier, averaging more nearly 8.9 million barrels a day.
At the same time, U.S. refineries ran at 72.3 percent of total capacity on average, a gain of 5.6 percentage point from the prior week, according to the EIA. Analysts expected capacity to rise in a range of 5 percent to 8 percent to 71.7 percent to 74.7 percent.
Editor’s Note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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