Gas, Diesel Prices Continue Rising

For the fourth consecutive week, the national average price of gasoline increased, up 5.5 cents to $1.96 per gallon. The average price of diesel rose 0.2 cents to $2.41 per gallon. Patrick DeHaan with GasBuddy says as long as COVID-19 cases continue to drop over time and states reopen, average prices could hit the $2 per gallon mark as early as this week. Crude oil prices continued to rally over the last week, though the increase was smaller than previous weeks. The rally in crude oil comes as production continues to drop to meet reduced global demand, and while demand has begun to recover, pushing the needle of prices higher. Last week’s data from the Energy Information Administration pointed to yet another drop in crude oil inventories, which fell five million barrels, but remain a healthy ten percent above year-ago levels. Gasoline inventories saw a rebound of 2.8 million barrels, while distillate inventories perked up 3.8 million barrels.