Gasoline prices hold steady at $3.10 -- could rise again in 2023

Dec. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. travelers continue to enjoy moderate relief at the pump during the holidays even against a slight uptick in the price of crude oil, data show, but it might not last.

Motor club AAA lists a national average retail price of $3.10 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, relatively unchanged from week-ago levels and almost 50 cents less than this time last month.

Steadiness in retail gasoline prices since last week could reflect an expected decline in demand from the severe winter weather that hammered much of the continental United States over the long holiday weekend.

AAA had expected about 112 million people would travel at least 50 miles last weekend, but standstills across the Ohio Turnpike and elsewhere suggests that demand collapsed.

At least 57 people were reported dead as a result of the impact of the weekend storm, with some attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning from sitting in an idled vehicle.

Federal data on implied demand -- reported as the total volume of refined petroleum products supplied to the market -- is due on Thursday.

Gasoline prices, meanwhile, have yet to reflect a bit of an increase in crude oil prices in the waning days of 2022. The price for Brent crude oil, the global benchmark for the price of oil, is up about 7% since Dec. 19, largely in response to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in China.

Crude oil prices account for the bulk of what consumers see at the pump. But high state taxes leave California with the highest state average in the Lower 48 at $4.37 per gallon. Texas, with a dense network of refineries and production centers, has the lowest average in the nation at $2.66 per gallon.

Patrick DeHaan, the senior analyst at pump-watcher GasBuddy, is now questioning his early-December prediction that the U.S. national average would be closer to $3 per gallon by the end of the year.

"While the national average declined for the seventh straight week, with oil prices rallying, it remains to be seen if we will manage another week of gasoline price declines," he said.