CSP, November 9, 2026: Oil prices tumble, pump prices follow Retail margin down 3 cents: Lundberg

CSP, October 26, 2026: Oil prices jump, but refiners eat the cost as retail margins soar Crude surged $11.42 per barrel in 2 weeks on bigger war premiums, yet wholesale gasoline fell and retail margins hit their best level since June: Lundberg

CSP, October 12, 2026: Gasoline prices fall 12 cents Retailers make modest margin recovery: Lundberg

CSP, September 28, 2026: Gasoline price rises 32 cents in 2 weeks to $4.58 Retailers get skimpy margin recovery

CSP, September 14, 2026: Crude oil prices jump even higher Retailers forfeit half their gasoline margin: Lundberg

CSP, August 24, 2026: Oil prices are up again Pump price is likely to jump soon: Lundberg

CSP, November 9, 2026: Oil prices tumble, pump prices follow Retail margin down 3 cents: Lundberg Nov 9, 2026 CSPDailyNews.com Article: Crude oil prices, rather than falling moderately in the past two weeks due to gently faded "war premiums,” dropped dramatically. The Oct. 23 near-month futures closing price of West Texas Intermediate, then at $103.27, dropped to $90.83 by Nov. 6. The decline of $12.44 per barrel translates to nearly 30 cents per gallon. Gasoline in the same two-week period saw an average wholesale price drop, weighted for all buying classes of trade nationally, of just over a dime. But retailers cut more deeply, so that the U.S. average retail price of regular grade fell by 13.1 cents per gallon. Added to the retail price decline of the prior two weeks, the drop is 33 cents The current pump price of $4.25 per gallon, while down nicely of late, is historically elevated. It sits at $1.13 higher than it did one year ago. Crude oil prices have been settling lower as supply from the Middle East continues toward normalization, and as demand for oil in several world markets has been damaged by high prices. Refiners were busy passing through oil price cuts into refined product prices, and managed to raise the refining capacity utilization rate, now up a further 1.1 percentage points to an aggregate 94.5%, robust for this time of year. Rack price cuts averaged around 55 cents per gallon in the past two weeks. The U.S. average unbranded rack price of premium grade showed a more severe retreat, a national drop of nearly 68 cents per gallon. In Petroleum Administration for Defense District 2, where refining issues had cut supply and created price spikes, branded rack on regular grade plummeted by $1.15 per gallon. PADD 2 unbranded rack premium grade tumbled by nearly $1.27 per gallon. Gasoline stocks are higher, a sort of flip side to gasoline demand being lower. Lower gasoline prices are also aided by the seasonal shift to higher allowable vapor pressure in winter blends, a perennial if small cost cut for refiners. Since in this period retail gasoline prices fell more than wholesale prices did, our current retail margin snapshot reveals a loss of 2.9 cents per gallon, to 37.8 cents. Although much is being made of a political backlash against the U.S.-Iran war bringing lower gasoline prices as expressed in the U.S. midterm elections, it is clear that price and supply are still wielding the whip on gasoline's back: High price and improved supply relative to the sadly shrinking demand as forcing pump prices lower. If crude oil prices change little in coming days and weeks, we may see more and even deeper gasoline price cuts, perhaps in the 20 to 30 cents per gallon range. Trilby Lundberg is publisher of the Lundberg Survey of U.S. fuel markets. Lundberg Survey Inc. is based in Camarillo, California. Click here for previous Lundberg Survey reports in CSP Daily News.

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