ELIZABETHTOWN — Gas prices around Bladen County saw a significant increase over the weekend with average prices reaching $3.13 per gallon, as high as it’s been in several months. Prices on Monday were slightly cheaper in Elizabethtown at $3.09 per gallon.
Still, local pump prices were significantly below state and national avearage prices. Around the state, drivers were paying $3.26 per gallon on average, with the averag price around the country sitting at $3.43 per gallon.
Drivers in the Southeast traditionally pay less per gallon the rest of the county according to gas price watchers AAA and GasBuddy.com.
“The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its weekly report Monday on the status of petroleum inventories in the United States. Among the highlights wer the following:
“Crude oil inventories decreased by 7.5 million barrels (MMbbl) to a total of 473.7 MMbbl. At 473.7 MMbbl, inventories are 63.7 MMbbl above last year (15.5%) and are about 6% above the five-year average for this time of year. Inventories in Cushing, OK, the NYMEX delivery point, fell 1.6 million barrels to a total of 35.2 million barrels. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was unchanged from the prior week and stands at 371.6 million barrels and stands 34.6% below the year ago level.
“Domestic crude oil production fell 100,000 barrels per day to 12.2 million barrels per day, 500,000 bpd higher than the year ago period. While Alaska oil production was down 9,000bpd to 432,000bpd, production in the Lower 48 fell 100,000 barrels per day to 11.8 million barrels per day.
“Gasoline inventories decreased by 2.9 million barrels (MMbbl) to a total of 226.7 MMbbl. At 226.7 MMbbl, inventories are down 12.1 MMbbl, or 5.1% lower than a year ago and are 4% below the five-year average for this time of year.”
Distillate inventories increased by 0.3 million barrels to a total of 116.7 MMbbl. At 116.7 MMbbl, inventories are up 3.2 MMbbl, or 2.8% higher vs. a year ago. Distillate inventories stand about 9% below the five-year average for this time of year.
OVERALL SUPPLY:
Total oil stocks in the United States (excluding the SPR) are up by 98.6 MMbbl (8.7%) versus a year ago and stand at 1.237 billion barrels (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve). Including the SPR, total stocks are down 98.1 million barrels (-5.7%) versus a year ago, according to a report on Monday from GasBuddy.com.
The U.S. imported 5.33 MMbpd of crude oil per day last week, down 847,000 bpd vs. the previous week, while crude oil exports fell by 348,000 bpd to 4.58 MMbpd. Total motor gasoline imports last week averaged 873,000 bpd. The U.S. also imported 146,000 bpd of distillate fuels. However, during the same timeframe, the U.S. exported 826,000 bpd of finished gasoline and 1,026,000 bpd of distillates. In total, U.S. companies exported 10.62 MMbpd of oil and petroleum products, according to GasBuddy.com