EIA: Gasoline, diesel and heating oil prices down slightly

The U.S. average retail price of regular gasoline fell less than a penny per gallon last week to remain at $3.39 per gallon, according to the Jan. 25 issue of This Week in Petroleum, published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The average price is about $0.28 per gallon higher than last year at this time.

In the Midwest prices fell five and a half cents to $3.31 per gallon. The East Coast saw the largest regional increase at two and a half cents per gallon to put prices at $3.46 per gallon. Gulf Coast and West Coast average prices both increased just shy of two cents per gallon to reach $3.23 and $3.62 per gallon, respectively. Rocky Mountain prices increased less than a penny per gallon to $3.01 per gallon.

The national average on-highway diesel price fell less than a penny per gallon to remain at $3.85 per gallon. The diesel price is $0.42 per gallon higher than last year at this time. Prices fell in all major regions except the West Coast, where prices remained flat from last week at $4.04 per gallon. The regional price decreases were relatively small; the largest price decrease occurred in the Midwest, where prices fell one cent per gallon to $3.74 per gallon. The East Coast, Gulf Coast, and Rocky Mountain regional prices all fell less than a penny per gallon to reach $3.94, $3.77, and $3.82 per gallon, respectively.

The U.S. residential heating oil price decreased over $0.01 per gallon during the week ending January 23, 2012 to $3.94 per gallon. This price is $0.46 per gallon higher than the same time last year. The wholesale heating oil price decreased by $0.04 per gallon over the same period to $3.08 per gallon, $0.33 per gallon higher than last year at this time.

The average residential propane price decreased by less than $0.01 per gallon during the week ending January 23 to reach $2.86 per gallon, which is $0.06 per gallon higher than last year. The average wholesale propane price increased by $0.03 per gallon over the same period to $1.23 per gallon. This was a decrease of $0.22 per gallon when compared with the January 24, 2011 price of $1.45 per gallon.

Last week, U.S. inventories of propane continued to draw, falling 2.5 million barrels to end at 50.8 million barrels. The Gulf Coast region led the decline with a draw of 1.3 million barrels. The Midwest regional stocks fell 0.9 million barrels while the Rocky Mountain/West Coast stocks were down 0.2 million barrels. The East Coast inventories fell slightly. Propylene non-fuel use inventories represented 10.4 percent of total propane inventories.