Gasoline Prices Are Trying To Stage A Recovery This Morning After The 4th Biggest Daily Price Drop On Record

Gasoline prices are trying to stage a recovery this morning after the 4th biggest daily price drop on record, and the largest since the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 4 months ago. Oil prices are also seeing a modest recovery this morning, following news that Russian ordered one of the world’s largest crude oil pipelines be closed, while diesel prices continue to slide lower.  

That Russian court appears to have taken a page out of the Keystone XL prevention playbook, ordering the pipeline be shut-down due to “documentary irregularities” on how to prevent oil spills, rather than a political stunt, retaliation for sanctions or to try and drive prices higher. We’ll have to wait and see if Putin later regrets this decision and asks oil companies to produce more in an effort to lower prices in another year or two.

Gasoline futures have dropped $1/gallon from their high set on June 10th, while some cash markets have fallen more than $1.20/gallon during that span. That drop is already bringing relief to consumers as they trickle down to the pump, while retailers should enjoy some record margins on the way down, unless of course we get another big bounce in the next few days. Keep in mind that in an average year we’d expect to see about a 30% pullback in gasoline prices from their spring price peak, which this year would bring RBOB down about another 30 cents/gallon from current levels, which is awfully close to the $3 mark. 

Yesterday’s update highlighted the chance that ULSD would slide to $3.50 if support at $3.81 broke, but I wasn’t expecting that it would happen in a single day. The $3.50 range now becomes a more serious support layer that needs to hold in order to prevent a slide to $3. 

Renewable fuels have been caught up in the recession-fear selling as well, with both ethanol and biodiesel prices reaching 3 month lows yesterday as grain prices got hammered along with energy commodities.  

For those looking for a reason for prices to bounce after Tuesday’s technical breakdown, just look to equity markets that staged a big intra-day reversal, with several major US indices finishing Tuesday’s session with gains after heavy morning losses. There’s also that issue of the world being woefully short on things like diesel fuel and natural gas that the fears of slowdown haven’t fixed. 

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