Diesel prices static as supply concerns emerge

From Fleet Owner.

The U.S. average price for diesel fuel still can’t decide what it wants to do, but the market may decide soon enough. Supply concerns heading into the holidays and winter are starting to creep into the conversation about fuel, meaning prices might be headed north more than this week’s slight increase.

Even the U.S. government’s own Energy Information Administration (EIA) is pinning diesel prices that are well above $5 now—up slightly this week, 1.6 cents to $5.333 a gallon—on low inventories headed into winter compared to demand that is high and bound to climb higher unless a recession cools activity.

Yahoo Finance analyst Ines Ferré also blames seasonal factors for persistently high diesel these days.

Another source says supplies of distillates—diesel is one, along with jet fuel and heating oil—have fallen to their lowest levels since 2008. Ferré joined a chorus this week in saying a blend of decreased total refining capacity, seasonal maintenance at the U.S. refineries that still are operating, and the cutoff of imports from Russia after that country’s forces invaded neighboring Ukraine this spring (the U.S. was importing 700,000 barrels of Russian oil per day prior to the invasion) mean prices aren’t heading in the direction that freight haulers want them to: down.

See the complete article from Fleet Owner online.