Fleet Fuel Prices Fall as Diesel Fuel and Gas Fall on Lower Crude Oil Prices

If your company buys diesel fuel or gas these fleet fuel prices have been looking pretty good for you for the past several weeks. Could they look better? Several oil commodities analysts believe you’re going to like what you see more in the next few months. There are many reasons why they feel this way since oil ended May with its largest monthly loss since December 2008. Europe’s debt crisis continues to look worse. The U.S jobs data was poor and increasing signs that an economic slowdown in China. All leads to extra oil.

Let’s look at some of the number:

• Bent crude oil is at a 16 month low to $96 a barrel
• U.S. crude is down to $82 a barrel when just 1 month ago it was $106 a barrel. Down $24 a barrel of crude oil.
• U.S. DOE diesel fuel prices are down from a high of $4.148 to $3.897 on May 28th. A drop in diesel fuel prices of 25.1 cents a gallon.
• U.S. DOE gas prices are down from a high of $3.941 to $3.669 on May 28th. A drop in gas prices of 27.2 cents per gallon.

All trends as fleet fuel buyers you would like to see continue. Yes, we want the U.S. economy to get stronger but I am not sure if it gets stronger, that $4.50 diesel fuel prices and $4.00 gas prices are guaranteed. It certainly boils down to supply and demand, speculation, inventories, wars, weather and anything else you can throw on your truck.

Even with these lower diesel fuel and gas prices let’s not forget that on:

• January 2, 2012 gas prices were $3.299
• January 2, 2012 diesel fuel prices were $3.791
• At that same point in time crude oil was $102.96 with that said since there is a 90% direct correlation between crude oil prices, gas prices and diesel fuel. We should still see a fair drop in gas prices and diesel fuel in the coming weeks.

With the economic worries and a decades-high crude oil production from Saudi Arabia have overshadowed Iranian oil supply disruption. As global inventories are built up and maximum production from OPEC is continued, it is unlikely that we could see supply shortages.

Of course that is not to say that a hurricane or some other world event that none of us could see happen couldn’t tip the scales the other way on diesel fuel prices or gas prices.

Speaking of weather and hurricane’s, Colorado State University has forecasted 13 named storms for the season. Two of these hurricanes are expected to be major hurricanes with winds over 111 mph or greater. If I am guessing a hurricane might be easier to predict than diesel fuel prices.