Diesel Drops 4.6¢ to $3.945 a Gallon; Gasoline Plunges 9.5¢ to 2012 Low of $3.254
Diesel continued to decline, falling 4.6 cents to $3.945 a gallon, its eighth drop in the past nine weeks, while gasoline plunged by almost a dime to its lowest level this year, the Department of Energy said.
Gasoline fell 9.5 cents to $3.254 a gallon, its lowest price this year, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations.
The string of downturns leaves trucking’s main fuel 20.5 cents below its $4.15 price on Oct. 15, which had been a more than four-year high.
Gasoline has declined 62.4 cents in the past three months, falling in 11 of the past 13 weeks, according to DOE figures.
Diesel fell 3.6 cents last week, and its 5.8-cent hike three weeks ago was the only weekly increase since its recent peak.
Diesel is now 11.7 cents higher than the same week a year ago while gas is 2.5 cents over the same week last year.
Oil, meanwhile, rose 47 cents Monday to close the trading day at $87.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the first time crude has closed above $87 since Dec. 5.
Oil prices had slipped to the $85 to $86 range last week after a week in the high $80s, according to Bloomberg Nymex figures.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
