Memorial Day drives to enjoy lower gas prices locally | Robesonian

Robesonian file

LUMBERTON — Robeson County drivers planning to drive during the Memorial Day holiday can expect a mixed bag when it comes to gas prices, but in general, the average price per gallon has remained stalled at around $3.24 in the county, slighter higher around the state and slightly lower in Lumberton proper.

North Carolina and other states in the Southeast continues to be the low cost leader around the country. The average price statewide on Friday was $3.29 per gallon, nationally, drivers are paring $3.55 per gallon on average. West Coast averages remain very high, averaging around $5, per gallon.

As Americans gear up for the start of the summer driving season with Memorial Day weekend, the nation's average price of gasoline is unchanged from a week ago at $3.55 per gallon, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

The national average price of diesel has fallen 3.2 cents in the last week and stands at $3.94 per gallon.

"In the run-up to Memorial Day, the national average price of gas has seen little overall movement over the last week. We've seen more states see prices climb than fall, which has been driven by oil's volatility as debt ceiling discussions are ongoing. I think we'll see prices rise slightly as we get closer to Memorial Day, especially if there are positive developments in the debt ceiling discussions in D.C., while pessimism could drive prices slightly lower," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. "I continue to be optimistic that the national average will remain under $4 per gallon for most of, if not the entire summer, with Americans spending a combined $1.6 billion less on gasoline over Memorial Day weekend this year compared to last."

OVERALL SUPPLY:

Total oil stocks in the United States (excluding the SPR) are up by 77.5 MMbbl (6.7%) versus a year ago and stand at 1.232 billion barrels (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve). Including the SPR, total stocks are down 96.5 million barrels (-5.7%) versus a year ago.

IMPORTS/EXPORTS:

The U.S. imported 5.85 MMbpd of crude oil per day last week, down 1,010,000 bpd vs. the previous week, while crude oil exports rose by 239,000 bpd to 4.55 MMbpd. Total motor gasoline imports last week averaged 763,000 bpd. The U.S. also imported 156,000 bpd of distillate fuels. However, during the same timeframe, the U.S. exported 711,000 bpd of finished gasoline and 914,000 bpd of distillates. In total, U.S. companies exported 10.1 MMbpd of oil and petroleum products.

Before the report was released, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up $1.27 to $74.18 per barrel. Just after the report was released, oil was up $1.51 per barrel.