DOE predicts drop in diesel prices, rise in consumption

The first edition of the Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook to include 2014 projections forecasts that the national average diesel price in 2013 will be 10 cents lower than 2012’s $3.97. It also predicts that the 2014 average will be 9 cents less than the 2013 average. 

Moreover, though the amount of fuel used per day in the U.S. has been dropping in recent years — 20.5 million barrels per day in 2005 compared to 18.6 barrels per day in 2012 — the Outlook projects that consumption will rise slowly during the next two years to an average of 18.8 barrels per day in 2014, “driven by an increase in distillate and liquefied petroleum gas consumption, with flat gasoline and jet fuel consumption,” says EIA. 

EIA also says that U.S. crude oil production is expected to climb, too, from 6.4 million barrels per day in 2012 to 7.3 million in 2013 and 7.9 million in 2014. 

Natural gas is forecasted to rise in price during the next two years, too, following a large drop in 2012: In 2011, the Henry Hub natural gas spot price averaged $4.00, which dropped to a $2.75 average in 2012. EIA predicts that average to jump to $3.74 in 2013 and $3.90 in 2014.