WSJ: Diesel prices soar ahead of Olympics

The Wall Street Journal
reports that stockpiling of Diesel fuel in China for the Olympics and
abnormally low inventories in Europe is driving the price of diesel
fuel further north here in the U.S. Retail diesel prices averaged
$4.331 a gallon last week, up 56% from a year ago (retail gasoline
prices are up 20%).

China imported 520,000 metric tons of diesel in April, up from 30,413
metric tons a year earlier, according to preliminary Chinese government
data. Diesel imports for the first four months of the year rose more
than eightfold. These volumes are expected to rise further in May and
June as China’s state-controlled oil companies build up stocks ahead of
the Olympics.