Most vacations are enjoyed during the summer driving season so gasoline demand usually falls in the following months. Supply has been increasing from a record volume of imports and rising production even though a large volume of refinery capacity remains shut down. With falling demand and rising supplies, prices are expected to fall, as can be seen with gasoline prices. Nebraska's weekly average gasoline price decreased 14 cents per gallon from last week to $2.38, which was 37 cents higher than the price at this time last year. Weekly average prices in the surveyed cities ranged from $2.21 in Columbus to $2.47 in North Platte. As of October 21, the Midwest gasoline stock level was in the normal range with 49.5 million barrels.
To a certain extent, diesel fuel can be substituted for heating oil so prices of the two petroleum products usually move in similar directions. While diesel prices are usually high in the fall due to diesel demand during harvest, diesel prices can also be high during the winter because heating oil prices are at their highest. Heating oil prices are at their highest due to high heating oil demand during periods of cold temperatures. Nebraska's average diesel price increased 9 cents per gallon from last week reaching $3.34. According to the weekly price report, this week's state average was $1.18 higher than the price at this time last year. Weekly averages in the surveyed cities ranged from $3.28 in Grand Island to $3.38 in Kearney. On the supply side, the Midwest distillate fuel inventory level remained below the normal range with 18.1 million barrels of diesel fuel as of October 21.
An archive of this report and historical weekly prices are available.
