Diesel Dips 0.4¢ to $3.879 a Gallon; Gasoline Also Declines
Diesel dipped 0.4 cent to $3.879 a gallon, stemming two weeks of increases that were the only upturns in the past three months, the Department of Energy reported Dec. 9.
Trucking’s main fuel had declined in nine of 11 previous weeks prior to the past two weeks’ gains, which totaled 6.1 cents.
Gasoline also dipped less than a penny, declining 0.3 cent to $3.269 a gallon, its second straight decline following two increases.
In those 11 weeks — which included two in which there was no change — the diesel price fell about 16 cents from early September, when it was just under $4 a gallon.
This week’s price is 11.2 cents below the same week a year ago, DOE said after its weekly survey of filling stations. Gasoline has slipped 2.4 cents in the past two weeks after climbing almost a dime in the previous two, according to DOE records.
Each week, DOE surveys about 400 diesel filling stations and 800 gasoline stations to compile national average prices.
Meanwhile, oil has closed above $97 a barrel for the past four trading days, the first time they have topped that level since late October.
Crude finished Monday’s trading day on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $97.34 a barrel, down 22 cents from Friday’s closing price, Bloomberg News reported.
