National average prices for diesel and gasoline continued to increase this week in the U.S., according to data tracked by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The national average retail pump price for diesel jumped 2.5 cents this week to $2.407 per gallon, the agency said. That's the ninth consecutive weekly increase, but the latest price is still 47.7 cents per gallon cheaper compared to the same week in 2015.
Diesel prices increased in every region of the country this week, EIA added, climbing the most in:
- The Lower Atlantic: up 4.1 cents to $2.363 per gallon;
- The West Coast: up 3.1 cents to $2.681 with California’s prices included and up 3.5 cents to $2.60 with California’s prices removed;
- The East Coast: up 3.1 cents to $2.436.
The national average pump price for gasoline jumped 4.2 cents this week to $2.381 per gallon this week, EIA noted, which is 39.9 cents per gallon cheaper compared to the same week in 2015.
Meanwhile, the growth of diesel exports from China since 2015 is contributing to a net oversupply in global diesel markets, the agency said.
Chinese exports of diesel began to increase rapidly last year, driven by a structural shift in China's economy—which is reducing diesel demand—and by reforms in China's refining sector, EIA noted, contributing to increased refinery utilization and diesel production.
Those two factors have pushed Chinese net diesel exports higher, to more than 300,000 barrels per day in April.
China began to increase the export quota for all petroleum products in 2015, EIA said, with the most recent quota announcements for 2016 at double the amount allowed during the same period last year.
