Diesel Drops for First Time Since November
Diesel slipped a tenth of a cent to $3.907 a gallon, its first drop since November, while gasoline also declined, the Department of Energy said.
The 0.1-cent diesel downturn was the first since trucking’s main fuel fell 0.9 cent on Nov. 29, to $3.162 per gallon.
Since that time it has gained 74.5 cents, and is now 96.1 cents over the same week a year ago, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations.
Gasoline last declined by 0.9-cent on Jan. 31, and before that by 2 cents, on Nov. 29. Since then it has risen 70.6 cents and is now 74.3 cents over the same week last year.
Oil slipped under $100 a barrel last week for the first time since March 1, following demand downturns after Japan’s big earthquake on March 11.
Crude rose $1.26 Monday to finish the New York Mercantile Exchange trading day at $102.33 a barrel — the highest closing price since March 10 — following U.S. and allied military strikes against Libya, an OPEC oil producer, over the weekend, Bloomberg reported.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
