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Another Hike in Diesel Prices, Oil Nears $50 Per Barrel

The average price of diesel fuel increased once again last week continuing a streak of price hikes that began in February.

by Staff
May 16, 2016
Another Hike in Diesel Prices, Oil Nears $50 Per Barrel

 

2 min to read


Source: EIA

The average price of diesel fuel increased once again last week, continuing a streak of price hikes that began in February, according to the latest numbers from the Energy Department.

The price of a gallon of diesel fuel increased 2.6 cents for the week, hitting $2.297 at the pump. While the price has been steadily increasing this year, it is still more than 60 cents cheaper than it was in the same week a year ago.

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The largest price increase was in the Rocky Mountain region with a 4.7-cent jump from the previous week. The smallest increase was in New England, where the price average moved less than a cent.

The average price of regular gasoline also increased last week, jumping 2.2 cents and settling at $2.242 per gallon. That price is 50.2 cents cheaper than it was a year ago.

Prices showed significant variation by region with the Midwest seeing a 6.2-cent increase for the week. In New England, the price actually decreased slightly by 0.7 cents per gallon.

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Crude oil prices hit some of the highest levels of the year as the market reacted to reports that the oil supply glut has reduced significantly, according to MarketWatch.

A Goldman Sachs report claimed that the global oil surplus had actually turned into a deficit thanks to drops in production.

Unexpected outages in oil production and increases in demand contributed to the deficit, which is the first in more than two years. This had a large effect on the market with the price of a barrel of oil nearing $50 on May 16.

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