Diesel to Hold Over $4 Into Next Year, DOE Energy Outlook Says
Diesel will average $4.21 a gallon this summer and $3.94 a gallon this year, while holding over $4 into 2013, the Department of Energy said Tuesday.
The monthly average price — which pushed past $4 in March — will peak at $4.25 in August before receding gradually to $4.18 in December.
Trucking’s main fuel will hold over $4 next year but fade to an average $4.11 per gallon, DOE said in its monthly short-term energy outlook.
Gasoline will average $3.95 during this year’s April-September summer driving season and $3.81 for the full year, before slipping to an average $3.73 in 2013, the report said.
The prices in the monthly report often lag DOE’s weekly price surveys. On Monday, it reported diesel averaged $4.148 a gallon, while gasoline averaged $3.939.
Diesel averaged $3.84 a gallon last year and gasoline averaged $3.48, according to DOE figures.
DOE boosted its 2012 projection for crude oil by a penny from last month’s outlook, to $105.72 a barrel, and said oil will average slightly higher than that next year, at $105.75.
Crude futures fell $1.44 on Tuesday to finish the New York Mercantile Exchange trading day at an eight-week low $101.02 per barrel, Bloomberg reported.
