"After enduring a withering downturn, crude-oil prices flirted with a closely watched line in the sand that, if breached, could signal further gains ahead."
Summary
Oil prices had an interesting 2018. This was especially true starting in early October, when prices began to fall.
Goldman Sachs and others are anticipating weak oil prices in 2019. However, I think that OPEC is unhappy from the events of 2018.
I actually anticipate a stronger 2019 than predicted, with prices getting into the $70 range for Brent by year end.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/09/oil-markets-us-china-trade-in-focus.html
Crude 3 month chart
Heating oil 3 months
Unleaded Gasoline Price Charts:
Here are the gas prices at the pump.
The National Gas Price Heat Map from GasBuddy:
https://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap?z=4
Weekly US ending stocks of crude oil.
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCRSTUS1&f=W
Weekly ending stocks for unleaded gasoline.
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WGTSTUS1&f=W
Weekly US ending stocks for distillate fuel oil(heating oil-especially used in the Northeast).
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WDISTUS1&f=W
Here are the latest gas prices across the country:
https://www.gasbuddy.com/GasPriceMap?z=4&lng=-96.591588&lat=38.10118167223963
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-west-coast-gasoline-prices-higher
The two main reasons are transportation and taxes. Part of the cost of gasoline is what it costs to take refined product and transport it to the end user. Below is a map of the main refineries and pipeline in North America.
You can see that the west coast has a much smaller amount of infrastructure than other parts of the map. As a result, more of your gasoline is refined in places that require it to be shipped by transportation.
The second reason is that the states on the West Coast have used fuel taxes more than the average.
If you add to that state requirements about how the gasoline is blended based on the various state environmental air quality and emissions standards, you can tweak the price again. The addition of MTBE or ethanol seasonally, further adds cost to a gallon.
Both coast tax their gasoline beyond the norm. Add to that in California they require 2 to 3 times as many fuel mixes as any other state which increases the cost again.
Oil to the moon. Long and loving it.
Congrats Richard,
Bit of a pull back.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Oil-Enters-Bulls-Market-As-Shorts-Are-Wiped-Out.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/11/why-the-stock-market-is-obsessed-with-oil-prices.html