Diesel, Gasoline to Remain Near $3 a Gallon into 2011, DOE Says
Diesel will average more than $3 a gallon next year, in line with a previous forecast, the Department of Energy said.
Diesel will average $2.95 this year and $3.12 in 2011, compared with last month’s $2.96 and $3.14 forecasts, respectively.
Trucking’s main fuel averaged $2.46 a gallon last year, DOE said Tuesday in its monthly short-term energy outlook.
In its weekly price survey released Monday, DOE reported that diesel’s national average topped $3 for the first time since November 2008, jumping 7.6 cents to $3.015 a gallon.
Gasoline rose 2.1 cents to $2.826, with both fuels resuming the upward trend that had faltered last week following five weeks of increases.
This year, gas will be almost 50 cents higher in the peak driving season from April 1 to Sept. 30, climbing to $2.92 from last year’s $2.44 per-gallon average.
Gas will average $2.84 for this entire year and $2.96 in 2011, up from last year’s $2.35 per gallon, “primarily because of projected rising crude oil prices,” DOE said.
Oil averaged $81 per barrel in March, almost $5 higher than the previous month and $3 over the previous month’s short-term outlook.
DOE expects crude to average above $81 per barrel this summer, just under $81 for the year, and then rise to $85 per barrel by the fourth quarter of 2011.
Crude futures jumped $1.75 Monday to close the trading day at $86.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.
