Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News
The U.S. average retail price of diesel jumped 2.4 cents to $2.556 a gallon, and crude oil prices climbed out of a 2 1/2-week trough, rising to $50 a barrel but still lagged prices a month earlier
It was diesel’s first increase after three consecutive declines, the Department of Energy reported April 3.
Prices were higher in all regions, with California posting the highest at $2.923. It was lowest in the Gulf Coast at $2.414.
Diesel costs 44.1 cents more than it was a year ago, when the price was $2.115 a gallon, DOE said.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $50.24 per barrel April 3, compared with $53.33 on March 3.
At the same time, Libya’s output rose to about 660,000 barrels a day, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified, Bloomberg News reported.
“The rebound of Libyan production stalled the rally,” Gene McGillian, manager of market research for Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn., told Bloomberg. “We were rallying on the signs that the OPEC production agreement will be extended.”
OPEC’s progress in curbing the global glut relied on contributions from Libya and Nigeria in March, two OPEC countries that are exempt from output cuts, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data.
Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute has licensed about 400 CK-4 and more than 60 FA-4 lower viscosity oils submitted by large, medium, and small oil marketers.
For over-the-road trucks, improvements in fuel efficiency are about 1% for CK-4 oils and 2% for FA-4 oils, experts said.
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