October 9

10/9 - Crude oil prices have been anything but stable over the past 2 years. History: Nymex light crude oil futures closed out 2021 in the mid-$70s per barrel before the Ukraine war drove prices to a record-high $123.70 on 3/8/22. Oil prices then declined steadily in the 2nd half of 2022 and averaged $74.95 for the 1st half of 2023. In May this year, and again in July, the Russians and Saudis tried to drive up oil prices with production cuts totaling 2.3M barrels per day. But that’s been partially offset by output gains in non-OPEC countries, including the U.S. Oil futures peaked at $93.68 per barrel just 2 weeks ago, and have since fallen to $82.79. Forward contracts for 2024 are averaging $75.65. That’s good news for gasoline prices at $3.71 per gallon, down $.10 over the past month. But diesel, predominately made from heavier Middle Eastern and Russian crude oil, remains sky-high at a $4.52 national average.