Gasoline, Diesel Prices Higher Than Year Ago

Print

Published on July 28 2017 10:29 am
Last Updated on July 28 2017 10:30 am

BY JIM TAYLOR

The peak summer driving season is winding down, but gasoline prices remain high compared with historic trends.

“Right now, it seems the demand is pretty good in gas, as it should be at this time of year,” said Harry Cooney, GROWMARK energy customer risk manager. “We’ll just have to watch as we go out into the fall and see how much it drops off.”

According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Illinois is currently $2.32, compared to $2.15 last year at this time and $2.26 one month ago. The highest average is in Chicago at $2.68 a gallon, while the lowest average, at $2.11 per gallon, can be found in the Champaign area.

Cooney also has his eyes on the diesel market, where demand also remains strong.

“Diesel demand is pretty good,” Cooney said. “So you have demand in the energy market fairly strong, but when you look over at supply, crude oil production here in the U.S. is back up nearing the old highs back before crude oil took its big price plunge.”

Diesel is currently averaging $2.40 a gallon in Illinois. That’s the same as the average price one month ago but higher that the year-ago average, $2.32.