Diesel prices continued to move upward this week, but not by as much as the last two weeks.
Whereas in the past two weeks the on-highway national average moved up by 6 or 7 cents a gallon, Tuesday’s report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed an uptick of only 1.1 cent a gallon, holding the national average at $3.288.
The report usually comes out Monday but the long Memorial Day weekend pushed it to Tuesday.
All but one of the EIA’s 10 reporting regions showed slight increases and the Gulf Coast — which usually has the lowest diesel in the country — went down by 1 tenth of 1 percent to $3.054, again the lowest total.
California diesel is set to jump to $4, coming in at $3.997 after having made the most gain from last week — 2.4 cents a gallon.
In contrast, the West Coast Less California ($3.514) and Lower Atlantic ($3.174) sectors each went up only 1.1 cent a gallon.
To see diesel prices by region click here.
Meanwhile, an international economic watchdog says threatened new trade barriers and rising oil prices could hurt long-awaited global economic growth, The Associated Press reported.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said today that “the threat of trade restrictions has begun to adversely affect confidence” and tariffs “would negatively influence investment and jobs.”
The Paris-based agency made its forecast as President Donald Trump’s administration threatens tariffs or other limits on foreign steel and cars. Other countries have threatened retaliatory trade barriers.
The OECD also said persistently high oil prices could push up inflation and push down household incomes.
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.
