Seesaw COVID News Continues To Keep Oil Prices Quiet

Oil prices continue to move back and forth because of mixed international news, specifically focused on coronavirus. Because of that Patrick DeHaan with Gasbuddy said the price for a barrel of West Texas Crude held fairly flat, trading Monday around $62. DeHaan said at this point, it’s difficult to tell where oil prices are going in the coming months.

In typical year, fuel prices would start to move higher because of the coming summer drive season here in the U.S. But he said the turbulent COVID-19 news makes anticipating where oil prices will go next very difficult.

"India has issued new lockdowns, things are still very tight in Europe but cases are slowing down there.  So, as we continue to see cases soar in some areas it’s detrimental to oil demand and thus price and that’s kind of where the market is right now.  Torn between bullish factors in some developed countries like the U.S. where vaccines are spreading quickly, and then on the other hand a drop in demand in countries that are hit with a resurgence in COVID-19.”

DeHaan added OPEC will start its scheduled production increase Saturday, which most likely will push prices lower. But by how much, that’s hard to say.

While not a normal year, 2021 is not 2020, so what does GasBuddy expect as far as the upcoming drive season and what that will do to your local price at the pump?

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekmedia.com