The price of diesel has reached its highest point since March and is not currently showing any signs of slowing down.
According to data from AAA, the nationwide price of diesel was $4.38 per gallon as of Monday, $0.41 more than a month prior. Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates told Yahoo Finance on Monday that refinery interruptions “can have a significant impact on diesel supplies and put upward pressure on prices, stoking inflation.”
Refinery interruptions “can have a significant impact on diesel supplies and put upward pressure on prices as we go into the fall agricultural harvest season and the winter heating months.”
Recent disruptions at refineries are partially to blame for the mounting strain; “the cost of diesel is a hidden tax on all the goods and services the consumer buys because higher prices are passed through.” The most recent setback took place last week when a fire at Marathon’s Garyville, Louisiana, refinery led to a partial shutdown of the plant, which is the fourth biggest in the country.
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Diesel Price Projections
We do expect more pain at the pump for diesel, said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis, to Yahoo Finance on Monday. Diesel prices “could still really accelerate into the fall months, posing a challenge for retailers who are stocking up for the holidays.”
Early this month, gas prices reached a peak not seen since 2023, reigniting worries that US inflation will start to rise again. The favored inflation measure of the Fed, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, is scheduled for release on Thursday morning. It is anticipated to indicate an increase in price growth to 3.3% from 3% in June.
After the release of the last report, we saw an increase in gas and oil prices, which is a significant impact, said Michele Schneider, chief analyst at Marketgauge.com, on Yahoo Finance Live on Monday. “As far as the PCE, I think we probably would not be surprised to see some kind of raise,” Schneider said.
In the month of July, oil prices increased by 15%.
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Source: Yahoo
