Este artículo estará disponible en español en El Tiempo Latino.
The national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline is still over $3, and no state has an average price below $2.60. But since mid-April, President Donald Trump has falsely claimed, repeatedly, that gasoline prices “hit $1.98 a gallon” in multiple states. Now we may know his source.
Before publishing our April 24 story about the president’s inaccurate claims of much lower gasoline prices, we asked the White House for supporting evidence. Officials didn’t provide any.
After Trump made the $1.98 gasoline claim again, on social media May 2, CNBC reported that Trump was likely referring to the trading price for RBOB, a form of gasoline called reformulated blendstock for oxygenate blending. That price isn’t what drivers pay at the pump.
“When asked by CNBC whether the president was referencing RBOB, Trump administration officials pointed to the contract’s recent price action [dropping below $2 per gallon],” Spencer Kimball, a CNBC energy reporter, wrote in a May 5 article.
We contacted the White House to confirm the report, but we received no reply.
RBOB is an unfinished gasoline product that is “intended for blending with oxygenates,” such as ethanol, “to produce finished reformulated gasoline,” according to the Energy Information Administration. Before it’s mixed to make gasoline that goes in vehicles, RBOB is traded as a commodity.
For example, contracts for RBOB futures traded on the New York Mercantile...
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