Following three weeks of gains, the national average price per gallon of diesel gasoline headed down this week, according to data issued today by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Falling 6.0 cents, the national average, for the week of April 14, came in at $3.579. This follows a 4.7-cent decrease, to $3.639, for the week of April 7, which was preceded by a 2.5-cent increase, to $3.592, for the week of March 31, and a 1.8-cent increase, for the week of March 24, to $3.567. The last three weeks of gains, for a cumulative gain of 9.0 cents, were preceded by three weeks of declines, which saw the national average fall 14.8 cents over that period.
Those three weeks of declines included: a 3.3-cent decline, to $3.549, for the week of March 17, a 5.3-cent decline, to $3.582, for the week of March 10, and a 6.2-cent decline, for the week of March 3, which marked the largest weekly decline going back to the week of January 27, when it dropped 5.6 cents.
On an annual basis, the national average is down 43.6 cents compared to a 40.4-cent annual decline, for the week of April 7, and below annual declines seen over the previous two weeks, at 46.7 cents and 47.9 cents, respectively.
WTI Crude is currently trading at $61.67 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which is essentially even with a $61.17 reading a week ago at this time and well below the reading for the week of March 31, at $71.75.
That decline is likely due, at least in part to recent tariff actions taken by the White House. An Associated Press report noted that “a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil dipped below $60 yesterday for the first time since 2021, hurt by worries that a global economy weakened by trade barriers will burn less fuel.
Matt Muenster, Chief Economist at Breakthrough, recently told LM that his company expects tariffs to offer downside price risk to national diesel prices.
“Most of this comes from economic uncertainty, particularly around near-term business investment and consumer price impacts that could limit year-over-year gains for purchases of building products and durable goods. Thus far, tariffs on Canadian energy have not had a profound impact on crude oil and diesel prices. Midwest diesel prices remain lower than what they were at the beginning of February. We have been paying close attention to that market because of Midwest refiners’ dependence on Canadian crude oil.”
And following the White House’s tariffs announcement on Wednesday, April 2, Muenster said that energy markets were down significantly today in response to the tariff announcements, with crude oil prices are trading about $5.00 per barrel lower (WTI and Brent) and diesel front-month prices are down $0.15 per gallon, at that time.
“Energy market sentiment is strongly pointing toward weaker demand and a slower freight market,” he said.
