There’s a reason analysts call the price of oil and related products like diesel and home heating oil volatile.
Today, the U.S. on-highway national average for diesel went down 1.9 cents a gallon to $3.266 after flirting with a decrease (three tenths of a penny) to $3.285 last week.
Last week, six of the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 10 reporting sectors showed diesel price decreases but this week all 10 regions saw diesel slide.
Before the week of June 4, many analysts were predicting that oil prices were on a long soaring streak and that diesel was headed for $4 a gallon and above.
That hasn’t happened yet, but still could, as California hit $4.003 a gallon the week of June 4 and is hovering at $3.990 today while EIA’s West Coast sector is at $3.769.
The Central Atlantic region today went down 2.2 cents a gallon to $3.420 and the Midwest sector decreased 2.5 cents a gallon to $3.199.
As they have been since two weeks ago, all 10 sectors report diesel prices above $3 a gallon. But it wasn’t so long ago that several EIA sectors were showing prices below $3 a gallon.
Benchmark U.S. crude closed up 36 cents to $66.10 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, was unchanged at $76.46 per barrel in London, The Associated Press reported.
So, diesel may follow suit and head back up pretty soon.
For more information on diesel prices by region, click here.
Dorothy Cox is former assistant editor – now retired – of The Trucker, and a 20-plus-year trucking journalism veteran. She holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and a master’s degree in divinity. Cox has been in journalism since 1972. She has won awards for her writing in both mainstream and trucking journalism.
