Transport Topics Online reported that according to the Department of Energy, diesel’s national average price is expected to cost more than $3 a gallon this year. This is a dime more than their earlier prediction.
According to DOE’s monthly short-term energy outlook, trucking’s main fuel will average $3.05 this year, up from the $2.95 it projected last month.
Next year, diesel will average $3.20 a gallon, up from a $3.12 prediction last month. Trucking’s main fuel averaged $2.46 in 2009.
Regular gasoline will average $2.86 this year and $2.98 in 2011, both up 2 cents from the previous forecast. Gas averaged $2.35 per gallon last year.
Gas will average $2.94 during this summer’s driving season (April 1 through September 30), up 50 cents from last summer and 2 cents higher than the previous prediction.
DOE said higher economic growth will yield higher oil prices, raising its oil outlook by $2 to $84 per barrel in the second half of this year, then to $87 a barrel by the end of 2011.
DOE said it does not expect “any significant disruptions” to energy supply due to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last month.
