Diesel Slides Under $4 a Gallon; Gasoline Falls 6.1¢ to $3.307
Diesel took its biggest decline in two months, falling 4.6 cents to $3.964 a gallon, a week after it had topped $4 for the first time in six months, the Department of Energy said Monday.
Gasoline, meanwhile, fell by even more, dropping 6.1 cents to $3.307 a gallon in its fifth decline in six weeks, DOE said following its weekly surveys of filling stations.
The diesel downturn was the biggest since a 4.7-cent drop Sept. 26 and left trucking’s main fuel 80.2 cents over the same week last year. Gasoline is now 45.1 cents higher than a year ago.
Last week, diesel rose 2.3 cents to $4.01 a gallon, marking the first time since May it had topped the $4 mark.
Despite the drop, diesel has risen in five of the past seven weeks including Monday, and is up a cumulative 24.3 cents in that timeframe, according to DOE records.
Oil prices declined into the mid-$90s per-barrel last week following a $100-plus closing price on Nov. 16, according to Bloomberg figures.
Crude futures rose $1.44 on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Monday, finishing the trading day at $98.21 a barrel, Bloomberg reported.
The increase was due to high retail sales reported over the weekend following the Thanksgiving holiday, Bloomberg said.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
