Diesel Price Falls 0.5¢ to $2.539 a Gallon
The U.S. average retail price of diesel dropped 0.5 cent to $2.539 a gallon, the Department of Energy said May 22.
Diesel, whose price fell in six out of 11 regions, declined for the fifth consecutive week. Trucking's main fuel costs 18.2 cents more than it did a year ago, DOE said.
The price of diesel was unchanged in the New England region and rose in the Gulf Coast, Rocky Mountain, West Coast and California regions.
The U.S. average price for regular gasoline rose 3 cents to $2.399 a gallon. The cost is 9.9 cents higher than it was a year ago, DOE’s Energy Information Administration said.
Gasoline prices rose in every region but the Rocky Mountain area, EIA said.
Oil futures rose to a one-month high as Saudi Arabia said all countries taking part in output cuts agree on extending the deal through the first quarter of 2018, Bloomberg News reported May 22.
Futures climbed 0.8% in New York after advancing 5.2% in the week ending May 20. Prolonging the cuts will help producers reach their goal of trimming stockpiles in developed economies to the five-year average, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said May 21. Iraq backed the nine-month extension, removing one of the last remaining obstacles to an agreement at the OPEC meeting in Vienna on May 25.
"The Saudi statement that everyone agreed to a nine-month extension spurred optimism that the cuts will do something to correct the oversupply scenario," Gene McGillian, manager of market research for Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn., told Bloomberg.
West Texas Intermediate for June delivery, which expired May 22, rose 40 cents to settle at $50.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It’s the highest close since April 18. Total volume traded was about 10% below the 100-day average. The more-active July contract advanced 46 cents to $51.13, Bloomberg reported.
