Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
September 12, 2000, Tuesday, Home Edition
SECTION: Business; Pg. 1D
LENGTH: 395 words
HEADLINE:
Truckers hit by soaring diesel costs;
U.S. gas prices up,
too: But Atlanta enjoying the lowest average, Lundberg Survey shows.
BYLINE: Russell Grantham, Staff
SOURCE: CONSTITUTION
BODY:
While Atlanta may have some of the lowest gasoline prices in the country,
truckers are the ones now feeling the pinch as diesel fuel prices shoot up.
But the commuters' reprieve may be short-lived as both gasoline and
diesel prices are rising again nationwide.
Diesel fuel
is becoming more expensive because seasonal demand for heating oil often affects
the price of diesel, a similar product that has been refined to remove more
sulfur. "Heating oil inventories are so low that there may be some occasion to
use diesel as heating oil," even though it is generally more expensive, said
Doug MacIntyre, an oil industry analyst for the Energy Information
Administration.
Diesel fuel prices have been heading back into record
territory over the past week as refineries struggle to rebuild heating oil
supplies for this winter.
Atlanta diesel is $ 1.52 a gallon now,
compared with $ 1.41 a month ago and $ 1.14 a year ago, according to the AAA
Daily Fuel Gauge Report. The national average for diesel is $ 1.64 a gallon, up
15 cents from a month ago, according to AAA. The national average was $ 1.24 a
gallon a year ago.
"The demand for (heating) oil is just starting to
pick up," lamented Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator
Independent Drivers Association. "We are bracing to see diesel prices increase
30 percent or more" this winter, he said.
Diesel prices topped $ 2.50 a
gallon last winter in some parts of New England because of competing demand for
heating oil. Diesel is already over $ 2 a gallon in some parts of California
because of supply disruptions, he added.
He predicted that small
trucking firms --- already weakened by intense competition and high fuel prices
this year --- will fail in even greater numbers this winter.
"What will
happen is there will be more truckers failing sooner than last year," he said.
Meanwhile, the average national price of regular gasoline has risen more
than 7 cents a gallon over the past month, to about $ 1.56 a gallon, according
to AAA. Atlanta gasoline prices are up less than a penny a gallon during the
same period, at $ 1.40.
Atlanta had the lowest average gasoline price in
Lundberg Survey's poll of 10,000 service stations released Sunday, $ 1.39 a
gallon.
> ON THE WEB: Where can you buy cheap gas?
www.accessatlanta.com
/living/autos/forum/driving.html
GRAPHIC: Graphic
GASOLINE DISCOUNT WIDENS
Georgia gasoline prices have remained relatively flat over the past month as
fuel prices resumed their climb in the Midwest and West Coast regions. Georgia
had the lowest gasoline prices in the nation, partly because it has the lowest
gasoline taxes.
July 1
National average: $ 1.56
Georgia average: $
1.40
Source: AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report
/ TROY OXFORD / Staff
LOAD-DATE: September 12, 2000
