DOE Lowers Diesel-Price Forecast to $3.07
Diesel will average $3.07 a gallon next year, the Department of Energy said Dec. 9, lowering its most recent forecast by 31 cents.
Trucking’s main fuel, which has averaged $3.86 per gallon this year and is now about $3.53, will slide under $3 next spring, DOE said in its monthly short-term energy outlook.
The price will bottom out at $2.97 in April and May before climbing slowly to $3.17 by the end of 2015, the report said.
The declines will be led by lower crude oil prices, the department said, cutting its forecast by $15 to an average $62.75 per barrel next year.
DOE’s Energy Information Administration, which releases the outlook, said it “expects global oil inventories to continue to build over the next year, keeping downward pressure on oil prices.”
Gasoline will drop even more precipitously, to an average $2.60 next year from its current national average $2.68, EIA said.
Gas has averaged $3.45 this year and its pump price averaged below $3 in November for the first time in almost four years.
