Diesel Dips Again, Down 0.8¢ to $3.871; Gas Drops 3¢
Diesel slid less than a penny for a second straight week, declining 0.8 cent to $3.871 a gallon, while gasoline fell 3 cents in its third straight drop, the Department of Energy reported Dec. 16.
Gasoline’s national average pump price declined to $3.239, DOE said after its weekly survey of filling stations. It has declined 5.4 cents in the past three weeks.
Diesel is 7.4 cents less than the same week a year ago, while gas is 1.5 cents below its level last year, DOE said after its weekly survey of filling stations.
Diesel’s two increases preceding the dips were its only upturns since Labor Day, although its price is down just 11 cents cumulatively since then.
Gasoline has plunged almost 37 cents since Labor Day, declining in 12 of the 15 weeks since early September, according to DOE records.
Diesel had dropped almost 16 cents before the two upturns, when it gained back more than 6 cents around Thanksgiving.
Crude oil futures rose 77 cents Dec. 16 on the New York Mercantile Exchange to finish the trading day at $97.77 a barrel, Bloomberg News reported.
Each week, DOE surveys about 400 diesel filling stations and 800 gasoline stations to compile national average prices.
