Diesel Rises 3.7¢ to $2.165
The U.S. retail diesel average jumped 3.7 cents to $2.165, the Department of Energy said April 18.
All regions posted higher prices, DOE said after its survey of fueling stations.
Trucking's main fuel, however, remained 61.5 cents cheaper than a year ago, when the price was $2.780.
In its latest short-term energy outlook, DOE’s Energy Information Administration forecasts diesel fuel retail prices to average $2.11 a gallon this summer, down from $2.74 last summer.
The national average price for regular gasoline jumped 6.8 cents to $2.137 a gallon, EIA said. Gasoline rose in all regions, too.
It remained, however, 34.8 cents a gallon cheaper than a year earlier.
EIA said the retail price of regular-grade gasoline will average $2.04 a gallon during the 2016 summer driving season, down from $2.63 a gallon last summer. An average of $2.04 a gallon would mark the lowest during the summer since 2004.
EIA projected the average retail price of gasoline will increase to $2.05 in April, then to $2.08 in June before falling to $1.93 in September.
Meanwhile, on April 18, crude oil futures fell below $40 and closed on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $39.20.
Crude oil fell after the world’s biggest producers failed to reach an agreement April 17 to limit production, amounting to what Bloomberg News called “a diplomatic failure that threatens to renew the rout in prices.”
Bloomberg reported, “The deal’s demise will probably do little to alter supply-demand fundamentals as producers committed to a freeze including Russia and Iraq were already producing at record levels. But it’s left a coordinated response to the slump in ruins, and that will send an important message to the market: It’s every country for itself again.”
