Where the numbers come from.

Where the data comes from

Most of the numbers on Fuel Numbers come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), including prices, oil and gasoline in storage, refinery activity and U.S. oil production.

EIA is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. Fuel Numbers uses its published data directly.

What the main numbers mean

Regular gasoline and diesel

These are U.S. average pump prices. They show the national trend, but your local price can be higher or lower because of regional supply, taxes, fuel blends and local competition.

WTI and Brent crude oil

WTI and Brent are widely followed reference prices for crude oil. Fuel Numbers shows EIA spot price observations. They help show what is happening in the oil market, but they are not live futures quotes and may have an earlier observation date than the day you visit the site.

To make the charts easier to compare, WTI and Brent are displayed at roughly weekly intervals on longer chart views. The headline price, changes and 52 week high and low figures still use the full EIA data.

Weekly supply numbers

Fuel Numbers highlights four weekly measures because together they form a useful supply picture:

• U.S. oil output: how much crude oil is being produced domestically.
• Crude oil in storage: the commercial inventory buffer between production, imports and refinery demand.
• Refineries running: the share of available refinery capacity being used.
• Gasoline in storage: the finished fuel inventory cushion closest to the retail market.

These figures come from EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report. No single measure determines gasoline prices by itself; the value comes from looking at how the pieces move together.

Imports and exports

Fuel Numbers also shows crude oil net imports and petroleum product net exports. A net figure combines what came in and what went out. Positive crude net imports mean more crude entered the U.S. than left it. Positive product net exports mean more petroleum products left the U.S. than entered it.

“Petroleum products” includes gasoline and diesel, but also other refined and partly refined products reported by EIA.

Wholesale gasoline

The explainer uses EIA's U.S. Gulf Coast regular gasoline spot price as a wholesale reference. It is not the exact wholesale price paid everywhere, but it helps show the step between crude oil and the price at the pump.

Fuel Numbers calculations

Refining spread

Fuel Numbers' refining spread is a simple comparison between the crude oil equivalent and the wholesale gasoline price:

wholesale gasoline price − (WTI crude price ÷ 42)

There are 42 U.S. gallons in a petroleum barrel. The result shows the approximate price gap between the crude oil equivalent and the wholesale gasoline benchmark.

This is not an official refinery profit margin and is not labeled as a formal crack spread. Real refinery economics depend on the crude grade, product mix, location, operating costs and many other factors.

Crude equivalent per gallon

Fuel Numbers divides the current oil price by 42 to show a rough crude oil cost per gallon. It is a comparison only; it does not mean a barrel produces 42 gallons of gasoline.

The final pump price also includes refining, wholesale market conditions, transportation, storage, taxes and retailer costs.

“What changed this week?”

The weekly summary looks at three things: the oil price, gasoline in storage and refinery activity. Higher oil prices usually add upward pressure. More gasoline in storage can ease pressure. Lower refinery activity can add pressure.

It is a simple summary of current conditions, not a price forecast.

How fresh is the data?

The header shows when each source category was last updated. Hover, keyboard focus or tap a category to see the observation period represented by that update.

• Retail covers the latest U.S. average gasoline and diesel price observation.
• Supply covers the latest weekly inventories, refinery activity and U.S. oil output.
• Markets covers the latest EIA WTI, Brent and wholesale gasoline price observations.

This keeps the header focused on when new information became available while still making the underlying observation date easy to check.