Summary: The US Department of Energy reported a drop in gasoline prices to $3.05 per gallon in late December, with some locations in Texas seeing prices as low as $2.50. More significantly, the average time price of gasoline has been declining, reflecting an increase in gasoline abundance driven by record-high US crude oil production and innovative drilling technologies.

The US Department of Energy reported that regular gasoline was down to $3.05 a gallon the week before Christmas. You can find gas prices close to $2.50 in Texas and at some stores or other locations.

While the price at the pump is interesting, the time it takes to earn the money to fill your tank is what really counts.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports nominal gasoline prices and average hourly earnings. Dividing one by the other gives us the time price. It is the change in the time price over time that reveals our true economic condition.

Line graph displaying the gasoline time price in minutes between 2013 to 2023

Since 2013, the average time price of a gallon of gasoline has been around 6.34 minutes. The lowest time price was 3.75 minutes in April 2020 when COVID-19 lockdown policies were suppressing demand. The highest price was 9.43 minutes in June 2022 when supply and demand were going in opposite directions. The trend line indicates that the time price will continue to decline, suggesting an increase in gasoline abundance.

US crude oil production hit a record high of 13.21 million barrels per day in September 2023. This was up 88.7 percent from 7 million barrels per day in January 2013.

Line graph displaying the production of US Crude Oil from 2013 to 2023 in Thousands of Barrels

The United States is the world’s leading energy producer of crude oil and natural gas, with over half of the wells on the planet.

US energy entrepreneurs created horizontal drilling and fracking. The major reason the United States leads this industry is because we don’t have a bureaucratic state-monopoly energy company, and people have subsurface property rights. That means that individuals own the oil beneath their feet and therefore have a great incentive to drill.

What’s more, we discover valuable new knowledge every time a new well is drilled. This accumulation of knowledge is really our most valuable energy resource. Note how each rig is “getting smarter.”

This graph highlights an inverse relationship; US oil output has steadily risen since 2005 while the amount of drilling rigs has declined.

This article was published at Gale Winds on 1/4/2024.