How Much of a Driver’s Monthly Income is Spent on Gas? [State-by-State Study] | FinanceBuzz
Oil
Gas prices – POLITICO
For the past several months, a White House-led team of economic specialists has marked each day in the same way: With a painstaking, state-by-state examination of gasoline prices and the intricate market forces pushing them relentlessly upward.
Senior officials and others close to President Joe Biden view those prices as the cost that most directly affects voters’ everyday lives, and therefore their perception of the economy as well. As such, Biden and his top advisers fixate on them with an intensity that some aides describe as obsessive. White House chief of staff Ron Klain has grown particularly absorbed by the issue, checking the average price of a gallon of gas every morning. He’s lamented that it’s the one item everyone knows the cost of because gas station billboards are so ubiquitous throughout the country.
Oil Inventories Down to Dangerously Low Point
Crude oil inventories are down to a dangerously low point across Europe, North America, and OECD Asia just as OPEC spare production capacity has dwindled to the lowest levels since April 2020.
That’s according to a new BofA Global Research report, which was sent to Rigzone on Monday. The report also highlighted that petroleum product inventories have fallen to “precarious levels” for middle distillates and gasoline “as the market heads into the peak of the U.S. driving season”.
“As a result, refined petroleum cracks have recently spiked to record levels, contributing to boost volatility across the oil complex,” the BofA Global Research report stated.
“Most worryingly, strategic oil barrels held by OECD governments are already low and set to decline steeply going forward, leaving consumers exposed to any future negative supply shock,” the report added.
NPR
NPR
Oil falls on Russia/Ukraine talks and new lockdowns in China | Reuters
LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell by around $5 a barrel on Monday as investors pinned hopes on diplomatic efforts by Ukraine and Russia to end their conflict, while a surge in COVID-19 cases in China spooked the markets.
Brent was down by $4.67, or 4.1%, at $108.00 a barrel at 1000 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $5.71, or 5.2%, to $103.62 a barrel.
Both contracts have surged since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine and are up roughly 40% for the year to date.