Diesel Drops 2.3¢ to $2.379 a Gallon
The U.S. average diesel retail price declined 2.3 cents to $2.379, the Department of Energy reported.
Diesel prices have fallen for three consecutive weeks after two weeks in which the price was unchanged.
Trucking’s main fuel is 34.4 cents cheaper than a year ago, when the price was $2.782.
The price of diesel was down everywhere, declining the most in the West Coast less California region, where it dropped 3.3 cents to $2.536, DOE said after its July 25 survey of fueling stations.
The lowest average price is in the Gulf Coast, where diesel costs $2.242 a gallon, according to DOE figures.
West Texas Intermediate for September delivery dropped $1.06 to settle at $43.13 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest close since April 25, Bloomberg News reported.
The national average price for regular gasoline fell 4.8 cents to $2.182 a gallon, DOE’s Energy Information Administration said. The average is 56.3 cents cheaper than a year ago.
The global oil market is "severely oversupplied" with gasoline — with stocks at a five-year high — serving as a blow to crude prices from next month, reckon Morgan Stanley analysts led by Adam Longson, Bloomberg reported.
In a report published July 24, the analysts foresee "worrisome trends" for oil supply and demand, led by refineries generating too much gasoline in recent months. Faced with the need to cut back on capacity utilization to protect profit margins, these refineries are set to crimp crude oil purchases and drag prices lower, analysts said in Bloomberg's report.
"It’s the last week of July, and we’re looking at abundant gasoline supplies," said Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management told Bloomberg. "We’ll probably see an early rise in crude inventories as refinery operations are slowed. We’re not anticipating a return to the old lows, but there’s room to the downside."
