AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report for Friday, 4/27/18

National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $3.086; Month Ago: $3.036; Year Ago: $2.171. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $3.229; Month Ago: $3.177; Year Ago: $2.439.

Gasoline hit a new a two-year high as investors assess the impact of refinery outages and restarts as Harvey moves away from the Houston area. With the storm sliding farther inland over Southwestern Louisiana, Motiva Enterprises LLC’s Port Arthur refinery, the country’s biggest, began a controlled shutdown. The disruption helped send motor fuel up 5.7 percent in New York, while oil slipped. An Energy Information Administration report showed U.S. crude stockpiles slid for a ninth week, though production -- often given more weight by traders -- continued to rise last week. Click Read More below for more of the story.

Oil traded near the highest level in more than two years as political upheaval in top crude exporter Saudi Arabia reverberated through a market where prices were already elevated by signs of tightening supply. Investors have piled into oil as a shake-up of the ruling elite in OPEC’s biggest producer was seen to consolidate power with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who backs extending the group’s output cuts aimed at clearing a global glut. The purge also raised concern over instability in the kingdom, supporting a geopolitical-risk premium on crude that’s emerged with heightened tensions surrounding nations such as Iraq and Iran. Oil’s gained more than 20 percent since the beginning of September on signs global supplies are tightening and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies may prolong their output deal past March. Click Read More below for additional information.