Diesel Drops for First Time in a Month, Dipping 0.6¢ to $3.067 a Gallon

Diesel’s national average retail price fell for the first time in a month, dipping 0.6 cent to $3.067 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

Gasoline also fell for the first time in four weeks, declining 1.7 cents to $2.817 a gallon, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations.

Diesel had jumped 12.2 cents in three previous increases, including last week’s 0.7-cent uptick, according to DOE records.

The last decline was a 0.9-cent dip on Sept. 27, and trucking’s main fuel is now 13.6 cents higher than it was on Labor Day.

Monday’s drop — just the second in the past seven weeks — left diesel 26.6 cents more expensive at the pump than the same week last year. Gas is 14.3 cents higher than a year ago.

Oil closed below $80 a barrel last Tuesday, the only time in the past three weeks it has finished a trading day below that level, Bloomberg reported. Crude futures rose 83 cents Monday to close at $82.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.