EIA lowers price forecast for diesel

With diesel prices sliding lower in recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration is predicting that the average price for on-highway diesel will be 10 cents or more lower for the rest of the year than the agency forecast a month ago.

EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, released Sept. 8, projects that diesel will average $2.90 a gallon in both September and October. Last month’s forecast was for diesel to average $3.01 in September and $3.02 in October. Projections for the rest of 2010 are for moderate increases to $2.94 a gallon.

The September report projects steady but moderate increases throughout 2011, peaking at $3.19 a gallon in November 2011. EIA expects that diesel, which averaged $2.46 per gallon in 2009, will average $2.93 per gallon this year and $3.10 in 2011.

EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook is available on EIA’s website.