Diesel Drops 5.1¢ to $3.846 in Eighth Decline
Diesel fell for the eighth straight week, dropping 5.1 cents to $3.846 a gallon, while gasoline took its biggest decline this year, the Department of Energy said Monday.
Gasoline fell 5.7 cents — its biggest downturn this year — to $3.612 per gallon, its ninth straight decline, DOE said, matching its 5.7-cent drop on Dec. 19.
The diesel drop leaves it 9.4 cents below the same week last year and at its lowest level since the second week of the year, when it averaged $3.828 per gallon.
The gasoline drop was its ninth straight, during which time the price has plunged 32.9 cents. Gas is now 16.9 cents under the same week last year.
Diesel, meanwhile, has fallen 30.2 cents in the past eight weeks, DOE records showed.
The fuel pump-price declines come on the heels of declining crude futures, which fell to a seven-month low last week under $84 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.
Crude rose 75 cents Monday, its first gain in five days, to finish the New York Mercantile Exchange trading day at $83.98 a barrel, Bloomberg said.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
