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Price trends and regional differences

What causes fluctuations in motor gasoline prices?

Retail gasoline prices are mainly affected by crude oil prices and the level of gasoline supply relative to demand. Strong and increasing demand for gasoline and other petroleum products in the United States and the rest of the world at times places intense pressure on available supplies. Even when crude oil prices are stable...
read more in Gasoline Explained

What causes fluctuations in diesel fuel oil prices?

The retail price of a gallon of diesel fuel reflects the underlying costs and profits (or losses) of producing and delivering the product to customers. The price of diesel at the pump reflects the costs and profits of the entire production and distribution chain, including...
read more in Diesel Fuel Explained

Why are gasoline prices higher in some regions than in others?

Although price levels vary over time, average retail gasoline prices are often highest in certain States or regions. Besides taxes, there are other factors that contribute to regional and even local differences in gasoline prices...
read more in Gasoline Explained

Related FAQ's

Does EIA have gasoline prices by city, county, or zip code?
How can I find historical gasoline prices for each state?
What was the highest U.S. average retail price of regular gasoline?
What's up (and down) with gasoline prices?

Price components

What are components of retail price of diesel fuel?

The cost to produce and deliver diesel fuel to customers includes the costs of crude oil, refinery processing, marketing and distribution, and retail station operation. The retail pump price reflects these costs and the profits (and sometimes losses) of the refiners... read more in Diesel Fuel Explained

What are fuel surcharges?

Many transportation companies and freight carriers include a fuel-cost surcharge in their rates and invoices to cover increases in the cost of diesel... read more in Diesel Fuel Explained

Related FAQ's

How much tax do we pay on a gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel?
What do I pay for in a gallon of regular gasoline?
How do I calculate/find diesel fuel surcharges?
How many gallons of motor gasoline and diesel fuel does one barrel of oil make?

Measuring prices

Where can I find real motor gasoline and on-highway diesel prices?

Real petroleum prices are computed by dividing the nominal price in a given month by the ratio of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in that month to the CPI in some "base" period. The Real Petroleum Prices... view interactive chart of real prices in Short-Term Energy Outlook

Related FAQ's

Why has diesel fuel been more expensive than gasoline?
Where can I find prices for "off-road" diesel fuel?

Additional options for motor gasoline and diesel data files

Are the data available in Excel format?

Yes, find links titled "full history" on the top right of the each table on the main page. The same links are provided below:
See historical motor gasoline prices spreadsheet
See historical diesel fuel prices spreadsheet

What is the release schedule?

The prices are published around 5:00 p.m. Monday (Eastern time), except on government holidays, when the data are released on Tuesday (but still represent Monday's price). See holiday schedule.

How can I register to receive weekly gasoline and diesel fuel oil data?

Sign-up for the email notification list.

What are procedures for reuse of EIA data and graphs?

U.S. Government publications are in the public domain and are not subject to copyright protection. You may use and/or distribute any of our data, files, databases, reportst... read more in Copyrights and Reuse policy

Data quality and survey methodology

What are the motor gasoline price data collection methods?

Every Monday, retail prices for all three grades of gasoline are collected by telephone from a sample of approximately 800 retail gasoline outlets. The prices are published around 5:00 p.m. ET Monday,... read more

What are the diesel fuel oil price data collection methods?

Every Monday, cash self-serve on-highway diesel prices (including taxes) are collected from a sample of approximately 400 retail diesel outlets in the continental U.S. The sample includes a combination of truck stops and service stations that sell on-highway,... read more

What are motor gasoline sampling and estimation procedures?

The sample for the Motor Gasoline Price Survey was drawn from a frame of approximately 115,000 retail gasoline outlets. The gasoline outlet frame was constructed by combining information purchased from a private commercial source with information contained on existing EIA petroleum product frames... read more

What are diesel fuel oil sampling and estimation procedures?

The respondents reporting to the weekly diesel price survey represent a stratified probability proportional to size (PPS) sample selected from a frame list of retail outlets. The outlet sampling frame was constructed... read more

How reliable are the motor gasoline and diesel fuel oil prices?

The Coefficient of Variation (CV) of the mean, a measurement of variability of the mean price, is calculated as the standard error divided by the mean. As a measure of precision reflecting the error due to sampling, it can also be used to construct a confidence interval for the population mean. For example, a mean price of $1.67 and a CV of 0.004 (.4%) indicates at the 95% confidence level that the population mean price has an upper limit of $1.68 ($1.67 + 1.96*0.004*$1.67) and a lower limit of $1.66 ($1.67 - 1.96*0.004*$1.67).

• See on-highway motor gasoline prices and associated coefficients of variation
• See on-highway diesel fuel prices and associated coefficients of variation

For additional information, please contact the EIA's Information Center at InfoCtr@eia.gov.