In the January issue of its STEO report, the DOE forecasts the price of diesel will average $2.83 a gallon in 2015 — 2 cents lower than its projection in the January report and 3.5 cents lower than the average in the most recent week.
So if the DOE projections hold, the U.S. average diesel price will either fluctuate little over the next 10 months, or it will see even up and down swings.
It also would be exactly $1 less than 2014’s average of $3.83.
The DOE bases its projections on what it thinks crude oil prices will do, and it expects oil to stay cheap — $58 for a barrel average in 2015.
It expects that price to climb to $78 per barrel in 2016, which would push diesel to average $3.24 next year, the DOE reports.
