Eddie Seal/Bloomberg News
Diesel's retail price will decline to $3.81 a gallon this year — 11 cents below last year's average but 4 cents over last month's projection, the Department of Energy reported.
And the price will drop even more next year, to an average $3.72 a gallon, DOE said in its monthly short-term energy outlook released Jan. 7.
Regular-grade gasoline prices are projected to decline to $3.46 a gallon this year and $3.39 in 2015, the report said. That's down from $3.51 last year and $3.63 in 2012.
The declines will be led by lower U.S. crude oil prices, which are projected to average about $93 a barrel this year, down $2 from last month's outlook.
Oil price drops are being led by greater North American production, Energy Information Administration economist Tancred Lidderdale, who helped write this month's outlook, told Bloomberg News.
