Diesel to Average $3.83 This Year, DOE Says
The Department of Energy raised its outlook for 2014 U.S. retail diesel prices by 2 cents to $3.83 a gallon, the second straight month in which it projected an increase.
Trucking’s primary fuel will average $3.73 in 2015, DOE said in its monthly short-term energy outlook released Feb. 11.
The prices are below last year’s $3.92 national retail average. DOE last month boosted its 2014 price outlook by 4 cents per gallon.
Led by falling crude oil prices, regular gasoline is projected to decline to an average $3.44 per gallon this year and $3.37 in 2015, the outlook said.
Those prices are below last year’s $3.51 per gallon, and both annual projected prices are 2 cents below last month’s outlook.
U.S. crude oil prices will average $93.22 a barrel this year, down 11 cents from last month’s report, the report said. DOE held its 2015 oil-price outlook at an $89.58 per barrel.
Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures averaged $98.05 on the New York Mercantile Exchange last year, according to Bloomberg News figures.
The declining oil prices are being led by increases in production and supply from nations outside Opec, Bloomberg reported.
The monthly short-term energy outlook often lags DOE’s weekly pump-price surveys. This week’s diesel and gasoline prices rose by 2.6 cents and 1.7 cents, respectively, with diesel at $3.977 and gas at $3.309, DOE reported Feb. 10.
