Diesel Price Reverses, Declines 1.2¢ to $2.585
The U.S. average retail price of diesel fell 1.2 cents to $2.585 a gallon, while oil prices hovered near $52 a barrel and the glut in crude inventories continued, even with cuts in production.
It was the first decline after six consecutive weekly increases, the Department of Energy reported Jan. 17.
Trucking’s main fuel is 47.3 cents more than it was a year ago, when the price was $2.112, according to DOE.
All regions posted a lower weekly average diesel price, with fuel on the Gulf Coast being the least expensive, down 1.9 cents to $2.429 a gallon.
All regions were above year-ago prices, DOE’s Energy Information Administration reported.
The U.S. average price for regular gasoline fell 3 cents to $2.358 a gallon, 44.4 cents higher than a year ago, according to EIA.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $52.63 per barrel Jan. 17, up from $50.82 on Jan. 10.
Meanwhile, oil held in inventories must be used up before global supply and demand are closer to balance, Patrick Allman-Ward, CEO of Dana Gas PJSJ, told Bloomberg News on Jan. 17.
“We still have a significant global storage of oil, close to a billion barrels,” Allman-Ward said
OPEC and 11 other producers, including Russia, agreed to cut output by a collective 1.8 million barrels a day to remove a surplus that had kept crude prices languishing at about $50 a barrel for the past two years, Bloomberg reported. The six months of cuts are scheduled to expire in June.
The price of crude oil accounts for 44% of the cost of a gallon of diesel fuel, according to EIA.
U.S. average #Diesel fuel price on 1/16/17 = $2.585 gallon, DOWN $0.012/gallon from week ago https://t.co/4jdxibKSCb #truckers — EIA (@EIAgov) January 17, 2017
