Diesel to Average Below $2.50 Next Year, DOE Says
On-highway diesel fuel will average $2.47 a gallon next year, $1.33 less than this year and 26 cents lower than a previous forecast, the Department of Energy said Tuesday.
In its monthly short-term energy outlook, DOE cut its price outlook for oil, diesel and gasoline prices, citing lower world demand in a sluggish global economy.
The projected decline in the consumption of diesel fuel in the United States as well as a slowing of the growth in distillate fuel usage outside the United States are expected to result in a weakening of refining margins, DOE said. Distillate fuels include diesel and home heating oil.
The gasoline average will be even lower, at $2.03 in 2009, down from the $2.37 per gallon projected in the previous outlook and the $2.15 average in November.
Gasoline topped out at more than $4 a gallon this past July before falling to about $1.70 on Monday. Diesel’s national average was close to $5 in July, at $4.764, while Monday’s average was $2.515.
“The current global economic slowdown is now projected to be more severe and longer than in last month’s outlook, leading to further reductions of global energy demand and additional declines in crude oil and other energy prices,” DOE said.
Having fallen from record highs of more than $140 a barrel this summer to below $50 per barrel currently, oil prices will average about $100 per barrel for the year, and plunge by half next year, to $51, down from the $63.50 projected in last month’s forecast.
