Diesel Drops 5.2¢ to $2.781 in Third Straight Decline
Diesel’s national average price fell 5.2 cents to $2.781 a gallon, matching the biggest drop in six months, the Department of Energy said Monday.
Trucking’s main fuel has fallen 9.8 cents in the past three weeks, and the drop left it 53.5 cents higher the same week last year, DOE said.
While that decline is well below the 15.3-cent increase of the prior three weeks, it left Monday’s price at a 2010 low, according to DOE records. The decline matched the 5.2-cent downturn on July 13, when the price fell to $2.542.
Gasoline also fell for a third week, declining 4.4 cents to $2.661, its biggest drop since late September. Gas has fallen 9 cents in the past three weeks.
Prior to the three-week run at the beginning of this year, diesel had fallen for seven straight weeks, though the decline over that time was a modest 7.6 cents.
Diesel has fallen in 10 of the past 13 weeks, though the price is just 2.7 cents below the start of that cycle, when it averaged $2.808 a gallon on Nov. 2.
Oil prices have declined steadily in the past two weeks, closing Friday below $73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Crude futures rose about $1.50 to finish the trading day Monday at about $74.40, following positive economic reports, Bloomberg reported.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
