Roger W. Gilroy |
The U.S. average retail price of diesel rose 1.7 cents to $2.598 as the cost of crude retreated amid concerns over falling demand in China, experts said.
Diesel now costs 28.8 cents more than it did a year ago, when it was $2.310 a gallon, the Department of Energy said Aug. 14.
Prices for trucking’s main fuel rose in all regions except the Gulf Coast, where the price was unchanged at $2.410.
Diesel’s price increased for the seventh consecutive week, totaling 13.3 cents.
The U.S. average price for regular gasoline rose 0.6 cent to $2.384 a gallon. The cost is 23.5 cents more than it was a year ago, DOE’s Energy Information Administration said.
Weekly gasoline prices rose in four regions and fell in five, EIA said.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $45.59 per barrel Aug. 14 compared with $49.31 on Aug.7.
Oil tumbled by the most in more than five weeks as fears of falling oil demand in China overshadowed news that Libya’s crude supply was disrupted, Bloomberg News reported Aug. 14.
At the same time, there is no consensus on a long-term price anchor (for oil) due to the disruptive nature of U.S. shale oil, hedge fund manager Andy Hall said in a letter, according to Bloomberg.
Hall is shutting down his flagship Astenbeck Master Commodities Fund II Ltd., Bloomberg said, citing his complaints it was nearly impossible to trade oil based on fundamental trends in supply and demand, which now are too uncertain — and that leaves the market at the mercy of computer-based trading systems.
“Oil price bulls argue that the shale oil business model is a flawed one and is unsustainable, at least at current prices,” Bloomberg reported Hall said. “Bears, on the other hand, say technology is allowing these companies to continuously drive costs lower as well as add to recoverable reserves.”
The weekly U.S. rig count also fell to 949 during the week of Aug. 11, five rigs fewer than the week before and 468 more than a year earlier, reported oil field services company Baker Hughes.