DOE Says Diesel, Gasoline to Average $2.62 This Summer

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asoline and diesel fuel will each average $2.62 a gallon this summer, the Department of Energy said Tuesday.

The diesel price forecast is 21 cents higher than last summer’s price, while gasoline is 25 cents over the same time last year, DOE’s Energy Information Administration said in its monthly short-term energy forecast.

EIA attributed the increases from last year to higher crude oil prices, higher gasoline demand and new changes to fuel additives, such as replacing MTBE with ethanol in gasoline.

By September, fuel prices are expected to be much lower than last year's record levels caused by crude oil and refinery outages related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, EIA said.

But the agency said its projections do not reflect a scenario with significant new production or refinery outages.

Monday’s weekly price averages for the two fuels were higher than the forecasted prices, with diesel rising 3.7 cents from a week earlier to $2.654 a gallon and gasoline jumping 9 cents to $2.683.

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