The national average retail pump prices for diesel and gasoline headed in different directions this week, according to data tracked by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), though changes in pricing proved small for both fuels.
Diesel inched up 1/10th of a penny to $2.479 per gallon, which is 6/10ths of a penny cheaper per gallon compared to the same week last year, the agency noted.
Diesel prices were up in all regions of the country this week except for three, EIA added:
- Rocky Mountains: down 9/10ths of a penny to $2.541 per gallon.
- Midwest: down 8/10ths of a penny to $2.443.
- Gulf Coast: flat compared to last week, remaining at $2.353; also the lowest price for diesel in the nation.
Diesel jumped up the most in California, by 2.7 cents to $2.855 per gallon.
Versus 2015, however, diesel prices in California, Rocky Mountains, Gulf Coast, and the West Coast are much higher on a per-gallon basis: up 3.8 cents, 4.4 cents, 6.3 cents and 6.9 cents (with California included) to 10.6 cents (with California excluded) respectively.
The national average retail price for gasoline dipped down 1.3 cents to $2.23 per gallon this week, but that is 6/10ths of a penny higher per gallon compared to the same week in 2015, EIA noted.
Gasoline prices increased in only three regions of the country this week, the agency reported:
- The West Coast: up 1.7 cents to $2.697 per gallon
- The West Coast without California: up 2/10ths of a penny to $2.478
- The Rocky Mountains: up 7/10ths of a penny to $2.293
However, gasoline prices for all regions of the U.S. with the exception of the Midwest are much higher this week compared to the same week in 2015; up 5.1 cents to 12.6 cents per gallon. Yet with the price for gasoline in the Midwest 19.3 cents lower per gallon this week versus the same week last year, the year-over-year price uptick is muted for the national average, according to EIA’s figures.
In other fuel-related news, the agency noted that global offshore oil production – which includes lease condensate and hydrocarbon gas liquids – reached its higher level in five years back in 2015 and accounted for nearly 30% of total global oil production.
Offshore oil production increased in both 2014 and 2015, reversing consecutive annual declines from 2010 to 2013, EIA added.
More than 27 million barrels of oil were produced offshore in 2015 in more than 50 different countries, with five countries accounting for 43% of total offshore oil production: Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Mexico, Norway, and the U.S.
Recent strong production in the Gulf of Mexico helped boost U.S. offshore production in the last decade, EIA reported. From 2005 to 2015, total U.S. offshore production grew by 6.5% and with several large projects coming online this year and in 2017, offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to climb by about 100,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2016 and by an additional 200,000 b/d in 2017. By contrast, U.S. onshore production is expected to fall by 800,000 b/d in 2016 and by an additional 300,000 b/d in 2017.
