Diesel prices remain down for the 19th straight week

Diesel prices dropped again this week, with the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting that the average price per gallon fell 1.2 cents to $3.623 per gallon.

Weekly diesel prices have failed to see a single increase since the week of June 23, when the weekly average headed up 3.7 cents to $3.919 per gallon, a span stretching 19 weeks.

On an annual basis, the average price per gallon is down 23.4 cents, and prices have fallen 39.8 cents since hitting a 2014 high of 4.021 during the week of March 10. This week’s price is the lowest for diesel prices since they were at $3.573 the week of February 21, 2011.

In its recently-issued Short Term Energy Outlook, the EIA pegged the average price for diesel prices in 2014 at $3.83 and $3.80 in 2015, with crude oil at $97.72 per barrel in 2014 and $94.58 in 2015.

The average price per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange is $78.78, which now stands at the lowest price since June 28, 2012.

The International Energy Administration recently lowered its oil-demand growth forecast for 2014 to its lowest level in five years, noting global consumption will ease, even though producers are not showing signs of cutting back output, according to a recent New York Times report. Some reasons for this include slowing growth in Asia and European economic woes, which have impacted prices in recent months.

The report said that the new IEA forecast is calling for global oil supply growth to be reduced by more than one-fifth, with growth to rise a by a relatively low 700,000 barrels per day, which is 200,000 barrels lower than originally forecast.