Diesel Falls 3.5¢ to $3.942 in Seventh Drop
Diesel fell 3.5 cents to $3.942 a gallon and gasoline dropped 6.6 cents to $3.542, the seventh straight decline for both fuels, the Department of Energy reported.
The downturns came as crude oil fell below $90 a barrel to its lowest level this year.
Trucking’s main fuel has dropped 21.7 cents in the past seven weeks and is now at its lowest level since late January. Gasoline has dropped 24.2 cents in the past seven weeks.
The downturn left diesel 18.5 cents below the same week last year, DOE said Monday following its weekly survey of filling stations. Gas is 38 cents less than a year ago.
Diesel dropped 5.1 cents in the West Coast region but remained over $4 a gallon there, at $4.066, DOE figures showed.
The West Coast was the only region with a diesel price over $4, although it topped $4 in both the New England and Central Atlantic subregions of the East Coast and in California, a subregion of the West Coast region.
Crude oil, meanwhile, plunged $2.58 to finish the trading day at $88.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg News reported.
It was oil’s lowest closing price — and the first time it has closed under $90 a barrel — since Dec. 24, according to Bloomberg Nymex figures.
Each week, DOE surveys about 400 diesel filling stations and about 800 gasoline stations to compile national average prices.
