Crude Oil Prices Up

From the East Penn Region of AAA East Central - an affiliate of AAA and the Pennsylvania AAA Federation:

According to AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report, West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices were up 10 cents to settle at $102.93 on Monday. This upward pressure was largely attributed to news that the reversal of the Seaway pipeline between Cushing, Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast would become on-line in May, which is earlier than expected. 

The national average price of gasoline has continued to hold steady over the last week, and is even down slightly from the prices seen at the beginning of April. This recent trend has led some, including AAA, to suggest that we may be at or at least near to the peak price for the season. This suggestion was further supported last Tuesday by a U.S. Energy Information Administration prediction that retail gasolilne prices will peak at a $4.01-cent average per gallon for the month of May and will average $3.95 for the summer driving months -- April through September. 

The current national average retail price for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline is $3.904 up 6.6 cents from last month. In Pennsylvania, today’s average price of self-serve gasoline is $3.968 up 15.4 cents from a month ago and 17 cents higher than a year ago. In the Lehigh Valley, the average price for self- serve regular unleaded gasoline is $3.957 per gallon which is 19.7 cents higher than a month ago and 17.2 cents higher than a year ago. In the Philadelphia market, the average price for self- serve regular unleaded gasoline is $3.980 per gallon which is 19.5 cents higher than a month ago and 14.4 cents higher than a year ago. 

4/17/2012

WEEK AGO

YEAR AGO

NATIONAL

3.904

3.922

3.833

PENNSYLVANIA

3.968

3.978

3.798

ALLENTOWN/BETHLEHEM/EASTON

3.957

3.967

3.785

PHILADELPHIA 

3.980

3.981

3.836

The East Penn Region, of AAA East Central, an affiliate of AAA and the Pennsylvania AAA Federation, has more than 280,000 members throughout its service area which takes in all of Lehigh County, and part of Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Montgomery and Northampton Counties.