While gasoline inventories across the U.S. continued to swell with the approaching holiday, oil prices just can’t seem to get out of the mire they’re stuck in.
West Texas Intermediate crude closed Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $57.30, an increase of 26-cents a barrel for the day or just under half of one percent.
In London, Brent crude tumbled 8 cents a barrel and finished the day at $63.23.
U.S. oil production continues to climb with only a slight drop in the number of oil rigs nationally. The production is growing enough that more new pipelines are being built to handle the flow of oil coming out of the giant Permian Basin in West Texas and southeast New Mexico.
Plus, as the AAA Oklahoma reported last week when prices in Oklahoma dropped to the lowest of any state in the U.S., it’s clear gasoline inventories are growing. Drivers don’t feel inclined to drive as much this time of year.
As for natural gas prices, they slipped on Friday at the New York Mercantile Exchange closing at $2.61 MMBtu, a fall of 7 cents.