It’s a good time to be a trucker.
While retail gasoline has surged by 25 percent this year, diesel prices have fallen by more than a quarter a gallon. The difference between the two is the smallest in almost six years and may all but disappear in two weeks’ time, according to Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group.
The long-standing relationship between diesel and gasoline prices, which has kept gasoline selling at a discount to truckers’ favorite fuel since 2009, is unraveling under the weight of a larger-than-expected jolt to U.S. gasoline demand. The surge in consumption has bolstered prices of the motor-fuel far beyond the time they typically peak for the year.
“We’re consuming gasoline and exporting it about as fast as they can make it,” Flynn said. “Given the way gasoline demand has rebounded, I think diesel could be even in the next week or two.”
Throughout Knoxville on Wednesday, prices for diesel fuel ranged from 10 cents to 20 cents higher per gallon than for unleaded regular gasoline. At a Pilot station on Western Avenue, for instance, regular gas was $2.529, while diesel was $2.659, a 13-cent difference.
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