Weekly DOE/EIA retail diesel price up for sixth week in a row

The weekly average retail diesel price posted by the Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration rose 3.3 cents a gallon Monday to $2.559 a gallon.

It marked the sixth consecutive week that the price has risen. The price is now at its highest level since the first weekly report of April, when it came in at $2.548 a gallon. It’s up 18.7 cents over the past six weeks. 

Among the price movements in the broader market that helped contribute to the higher price:

— The 3.3-cent increase matched closely the upward movement in the commodity price for ultra low sulfur diesel on the CME commodity exchange. Since the settlement of Dec. 4 through last Friday, that market rose 3.02 cents a gallon, to $1.4369 a gallon from $1.4067. However, retail prices generally do not move in tandem with commodity prices. Their movement will inevitably be closer to the movements in wholesale prices.

— In the wholesale diesel or “rack” market, prices nationally rose to $1.576 a gallon last Friday from $1.528, an increase of 4.8 cents, according to data in SONAR. Those prices continued to increase over the weekend and stood at $1.586 a gallon by Monday.

— Diesel is rising faster than other key oil benchmarks. The spread between front-month ULSD and Brent crude oil, the world benchmark, stood at 25.7 cents a gallon Monday. That’s up about 2 cents a gallon just since last Monday. It’s also the highest since April.

More articles by John Kingston

Diesel markets closing out a strong November

Diesel buyers have a problem: Capacity to make that fuel is getting cut

Diesel inventories have done something in the US not seen in at least 30 years