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On November 20, 2023, the Monday before Thanksgiving, the regular gasoline retail price averaged $3.29 per gallon (gal) across the United States, 10% less than the same time last year (Figure 1). In real terms (after adjusting for inflation), retail gasoline prices this Thanksgiving weekend are 13% lower than last year. Prices in real terms for the week before Thanksgiving remain higher than pre-pandemic levels for the third consecutive year. ...

The Permian region, which spans western Texas and eastern New Mexico, has led all U.S. oil basins in oil production per well since 2021, when the measure surpassed the wells in the Bakken region in North Dakota. In the first eight months of 2023, initial production per new well averaged 847 (barrels per day) b/d per well, an increase of over 750 b/d since 2007. Sustained well productivity improvements in the Permian have allowed oil production to grow despite the least number of rigs currently operating in the region since January 2022. ...

The prices for credits used to comply with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program are at their lowest point in about three years because of both lower costs for agricultural feedstocks and a record-high number of credits being generated from renewable diesel. The prices of biomass-based diesel (D4) and ethanol (D6) renewable identification number (RIN) credits – the compliance mechanism used for the RFS program administered by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – have decreased to about 50% of their summer highs in July. ...

On October 23, the U.S. District Court of Delaware initiated a process that will see the sale of three refineries owned by Citgo parent company PDV Holdings, the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuelan state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA). Together, the three refineries account for about 5% of U.S. refining capacity. The sale of Venezuela’s refining assets follows a decision by the U.S. Treasury Department to provisionally lift most energy-related sanctions on Venezuela as part of an agreement on the country’s electoral process, although the two issues are not directly related. That change could see more Venezuelan crude oil enter the United States. ...