Diesel Dips 0.4¢ to $3.976 in Fifth Decline
Diesel dipped 0.4 cent to $3.976 a gallon, its fifth straight decline, while gasoline fell 2 cents in its sixth straight downturn, the Department of Energy said Monday.
Gasoline slipped to $3.429 a gallon, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations.
The diesel decline leaves trucking’s main fuel 3.4 cents under the same week a year ago, while gasoline is 6.1 cents higher than last year.
Diesel has declined 17.4 in the past five weeks from its $4.15 per-gallon average on Oct. 15, the highest price in more than four years. Last week was the first time diesel fell below $4 in three months.
Gasoline has plunged more than 42 cents in its six recent drops and is almost 45 cents below its $3.878 price in mid-September.
Crude oil, meanwhile, rose $2.61 to a four-week high Monday, finishing the New York Mercantile Exchange trading day at $89.28 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.
The price rose on concerns over ongoing Middle East violence and whether U.S. lawmakers will reach a budget deal by the end of the year, Bloomberg said. Oil has not finished a trading day at more than $90 since Oct. 19.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
