Diesel Falls Below $3 a Gallon
Diesel fuel’s national average price fell below $3 for the first time since September 2007, dropping 14.4 cents to $2.944 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported.
The decline left trucking’s main fuel 48.1 cents below the same week last year and $1.82 less than the record $4.764 set just four months ago.
Gasoline, meanwhile, continued its recent slide, falling another 17.6 cents to $2.224 a gallon, the lowest price since February 2007, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations Monday.
Gas has now fallen nearly $1.90 since its $4.114 record in early July, and the Monday’s price is 88.7 cents below the same week last year.
Crude oil — the main price driver for both fuels — rose $1.37 Monday to close at $62.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but is still more than $80 below the record $145.18 Nymex closing-price set in mid-July, Bloomberg reported.
The diesel downturn was led by a 19.3-cent decline in the Rocky Mountain region, to $2.964.
The price in California, which DOE breaks out separately but is included in the West Coast regional average, fell 14.4 cents to $2.913 — more than $2 below the peak $5.027 set in early June.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
