Gasoline prices today (May 24): Continuing the upward trend

World oil prices

Oil prices continued to rise in the trading session on May 23 as forecasts of a tighter petroleum market and a warning from Saudi Arabia's energy minister to speculators raised the prospect of further OPEC+ production cuts.

According to Reuters , Brent crude for July delivery rose 85 cents, or 1.1%, to $76.84 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 86 cents, or 1.2%, to $72.91 a barrel.

Both global oil benchmarks extended gains to around 2% in after-hours trading, after data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed a sharp drop in US crude and gasoline inventories last week.

According to Oilprice , US crude oil inventories fell by 6.7 million barrels while analysts expected an increase of 525,000 million barrels. Similarly, gasoline inventories fell by 6.398 million barrels; distillate inventories fell by 1.771 million barrels.

Official U.S. inventory data will be released by the Energy Information Administration later today. If it continues to decline, U.S. gasoline inventories will mark the third consecutive weekly decline, reaching their lowest pre-Memorial Day level since 2014. This year, Memorial Day falls on May 29, a holiday that traditionally marks the start of the peak U.S. summer driving season. U.S. gasoline futures rose 2% immediately following the API data.

Voluntary production cuts by some OPEC+ members took effect this month. Concerns about tight supplies grew after Saudi Arabia's energy minister warned short sellers - those betting on falling prices - to "beware", Reuters reported.

OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said the warning could be interpreted as OPEC+ considering further production cuts at its meeting on June 4.

Actions speak louder than words, and traders were not overly deterred by the minister's words, even though the group announced two significant cuts last year, briefly shaking markets, according to analyst Erlam.

Oil’s gains were capped by worries about the U.S. debt ceiling. A round of debt ceiling talks ended on May 23 without any sign of progress as the deadline for raising the U.S. government ’s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling or default looms.

Oil prices are likely to remain in a wide trading range so far this year as the economy continues to slow while strategic oil reserves are replenished and OPEC manages prices in line with global demand, said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management.

Domestic retail prices of gasoline on May 24 are as follows:

E5 RON 92 gasoline is not more than 20,488 VND/liter.

RON 95 gasoline is not more than 21,499 VND/liter.

Diesel oil not more than 17,954 VND/liter.

Kerosene not more than 17,969 VND/liter.

Fuel oil not exceeding 15,158 VND/kg.

The above domestic retail price of gasoline and oil was adjusted up by the Ministry of Finance - Industry and Trade in the price management session on the afternoon of May 22 with the highest increase of 499 VND/liter.

In this management period, the joint ministries have set aside the Price Stabilization Fund for E5 RON 92 gasoline at VND 300/liter (as in the previous period), RON 95 gasoline at VND 300/liter (as in the previous period); diesel at VND 300/liter (as in the previous period); kerosene at VND 300/liter (as in the previous period); fuel oil at VND 300/kg (as in the previous period); and have not spent the Price Stabilization Fund for all gasoline and oil products.

With this adjustment, gasoline prices have increased slightly after three consecutive decreases.

Since the beginning of the year, gasoline prices have undergone 14 adjustments, including 8 increases, 5 decreases, and 1 unchanged.

MAI HUONG

Source