Diesel to Slide to $3.81 This Year, DOE Says
Diesel’s retail price will decline to $3.81 a gallon this year — 11 cents below last year’s average but 4 cents over last month’s projection, the Department of Energy reported.
And the price will drop even more next year, to an average $3.72 a gallon, DOE said in its monthly short-term energy outlook released Jan. 7.
Regular-grade gasoline prices are projected to decline to $3.46 a gallon this year and $3.39 in 2015, the report said. That’s down from $3.51 last year and $3.63 in 2012.
The declines will be led by lower U.S. crude oil prices, which are projected to average about $93 a barrel this year, down $2 from last month’s outlook.
Oil price drops are being led by greater North American production, Energy Information Administration economist Tancred Lidderdale, who helped write this month’s outlook, told Bloomberg News.
DOE expects oil produced outside of OPEC countries to grow by a record-high 1.9 million barrels per day this year, with the United States and Canada projected to account for about 70% of the growth.
Crude oil futures rose 24 cents Jan. 7 to finish the trading day at $93.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.
This week’s diesel and gasoline prices each rose by less than a penny from last week, to $3.91 and $3.332, respectively, DOE said in its weekly survey of filling stations released Jan. 6.
