Drop in Inventories Threatens to Drive Diesel Up
U.S. inventories of distillates and crude oil dropped this week – the latter to the lowest level in 24 years, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
The double decline grabbed the attention of analysts while deflecting attention away from a halt in the four-week decline in the price of diesel fuel.
The national average retail price of diesel fuel, as reported by the federal Energy Information Administration, edged up 0.2 cents to stand at $1.41 a gallon on Aug. 9.
While the price was 4.3 cents below the July 3 level, the change in direction, tracking, as it does, with an upward change in the price of crude oil, suggests more increases to come.
 | Fuel Prices | |||
| Week of Aug. 7: | ||||
| source | price | change | ||
| DOE | 141.0 | +0.2 | ||
| Comdata* | 138.1 | -1.3 | ||
| OPIS self-serve* | 139.2 | -1.4 | ||
| OPIS wholesale* | 83.7 | -2.3 | ||
| *Comdata and OPIS figures are for the week of July 29-Aug.4. Click here for more fuel prices. | ||||
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