Diesel Tumbles 7.6¢ to $3.137 as Oil Hits $50 a Barrel
Diesel prices started the new year the way they ended 2014, falling 7.6 cents to $3.137 a gallon as oil prices fell below $50 a barrel for the first time in almost six years.
The national average retail price is 77.3 cents below the first week of last year, the Department of Energy said Jan. 5 after its weekly survey of filling stations.
That’s the lowest price since diesel was $3.116 on Nov. 8, 2010, according to DOE records.
Trucking’s main fuel has risen just once since June, a 5.4-cent uptick in early November. The pump price has plunged 78.3 cents since June.
Gasoline, meanwhile, also continued to decline, falling 8.5 cents to an almost six-year low $2.214, leaving the motor fuel $1.118 less than a year ago.
The price has dropped almost $1.50 since June, and the average slid to below $2 in both the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions.
Crude oil futures fell almost $3 to $49.77 a barrel in intraday New York Mercantile Exchange trading Jan. 5 before finishing at $50.04 — the lowest closing price since April 28, 2009.
Surging supplies from OPEC and domestic oil producers continue to push prices lower, Bloomberg News reported. Oil prices have plummeted more than 50% since July.
U.S. crude output rose to 9.4 million barrels a day in December, the most since DOE began collecting weekly data in 1983, Bloomberg reported.
Each week, DOE surveys about 400 diesel filling stations and 800 gasoline stations to compile national average prices.
