U.S. to see highest pump prices in three years, GasBuddy report says
After steadily declining each year since 2012, the national average price of gasoline is expected to increase this year, according to GasBuddy’s 2017 Fuel Price Outlook. California, always well above the national average, is no exception.
Drivers will shell out $52 billion more over the course of the year compared with 2016 as the national yearly average rises to $2.49 per gallon, says the report from Boston-based GasBuddy, which operates apps and websites offering real-time fuel prices at more than 140,000 stations in the U.S., Canada and Australia.
The national average price of gas has declined each year since 2012, when it was $3.60. In 2013, it fell to $3.48; in 2014, to $3.34; in 2015, to $2.40; and in 2016, to $2.13, says the Fuel Price Outlook.
Energy analysts said the Nov. 30 agreement by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels a day in 2017 has put upward pressure on prices from coast to coast.
“California’s gas prices will trend higher in 2017 along with the rest of the country, thanks to the higher price of crude oil after OPEC cut production,” Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, told The Bee in an email.
Sacramento, the closest city to Modesto included in the 2017 outlook, will see peak daily average gas prices between $3.35 and $3.65, it says.
GasBuddy showed prices in Modesto trending upward Wednesday morning. The average price was $2.60 a gallon, up from $2.55 a week ago and $2.53 a year ago. The lowest price for regular gas in Modesto in the past 48 hours, the website showed, was $2.29 at the Arco station at 3001 Yosemite Blvd.
The 2017 outlook also says the seasonal switch from winter blend to summer blend as mandated by EPA and the Clean Air Act will bring a spike at the pump later this winter and spring, with the national average gas price rising 35 to 60 cents between mid-February and a peak likely to occur in May.
“The list of factors being mixed into the yearly forecast has never been larger,” DeHaan said in a news release. “This year will see a new administration take over, perhaps the most oil-friendly in some time, and with so many unknowns in regards to policy changes, we’ll be keeping a keen eye on such, along with taxation changes. But forecasting fuel prices, especially this year, remains a challenging balance of science and art.”
Additional components that have the potential to weigh on retail gasoline prices include federal and/or state tax changes, Middle East volatility, currency fluctuations, refinery maintenance and/or unscheduled outages, weather events and shipping or transportation snafus.
“In recent years the ‘price at the pump’ continues to garner more media attention serving as an economic barometer on Main Street that stirs opinions from a broad swath of consumers from coast to coast,” said Gregg Laskoski, GasBuddy senior petroleum analyst, in the news release. “Forecasting the direction of that ‘barometer,’ the potential trouble spots and how the trends are likely to translate into dollars and cents affords us the opportunity to share insights that help everyone save money, even when prices are climbing.”
This story was originally published January 4, 2017 at 12:16 PM with the headline "U.S. to see highest pump prices in three years, GasBuddy report says."