Diesel’s Rise Continues, Up 4.6¢ to $2.586
The U.S. average retail price of diesel rose 4.6 cents to $2.586 a gallon, according to the Department of Energy, as the price of oil rose past $55 to an 18-month high, then fell later in the day Jan. 3.
Trucking’s primary fuel is 37.5 cents more than it was a year ago when the price was $2.211, DOE said Jan. 3 in a report covering the period ending Jan. 2.
In the most recent survey, all regions posted a higher weekly average diesel price and all were above year-ago prices, as they had the previous week, DOE said.
Also, the U.S. regular gasoline average price rose 6.8 cents to $2.377 a gallon, 34.9 cents higher than a year ago, the department’s Energy Information Administration said.
The average weekly gasoline price rose in all regions.
Oil climbed to an 18-month high in New York as output cuts by Kuwait and Oman signaled OPEC and its partners are delivering on their agreement to stabilize the market, Bloomberg News reported.
But later in the day Jan. 3, oil fell from the highest level since July 2015 as the dollar strengthened while doubts persisted about the ability of OPEC and its partners to balance the market, Bloomberg said.
Oil is a commodity priced globally in U.S. dollars.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $53.90 per barrel Dec. 27, compared with $52.33 on Jan. 3.
“Too much faith has been put in OPEC and the other countries that have promised cuts,” John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy, told Bloomberg by telephone. “They have been increasing output the last few months, so the cuts will be like New Year’s crash diet, and we know how those end.”
