Diesel Average Falls for 10th Consecutive Week to Lowest Price Since 2009
Diesel’s national average price declined for the 10th consecutive week, dropping 5.5 cents to $2.668 per gallon, according to a report from the Department of Energy on Aug. 3.
Diesel is $1.185 cheaper than a year ago, the agency reported after its weekly survey of filling stations.
It's the lowest price for diesel since October 12, 2009, when trucking's main fuel was $2.600. Since its most recent peak of May 25 at $2.914, diesel has fallen 24.6 cents.
The decline follows a 5.9-cent drop to $2.723 per gallon last week that was the lowest in nearly six years.
The 10-week stretch is the longest period of consecutive falling prices this year and the longest such streak since a 12-week period from Nov. 10, 2014, to Feb. 2, 2015, when the average price plunged 84.6 cents.
U.S. average #Diesel fuel price on 8/03/15 = $2.668, DOWN $0.055 from week ago http://t.co/sccS2Kg8DQ #truckers pic.twitter.com/24FI2hZWj1 — EIA (@EIAgov) August 3, 2015
The price of diesel dropped the most in the Gulf Coast region, declining 7.5 cents from the same time last week. The smallest decline was in the Central Atlantic area, where the fuel dipped 3.3 cents from last week.
The national average price for gasoline fell by 5.6 cents, leaving it at $2.689, 2.1 cents higher than diesel. Gasoline declined the most in the Midwest, falling 6.5 cents and fell 2.4 cents on the West Coast excluding California.
Meanwhile, crude oil dropped below $50 a barrel for the first time since January as Iran vowed to boost production immediately after sanctions are lifted and manufacturing in China slowed, Bloomberg News reported.
“Right now we’re in a race to the bottom. Oil producers are pumping what they can in the hopes that someone else will cut first,” Helima Croft, chief commodities strategist at RBC Capital in New York, told Bloomberg News.
Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers fueled speculation about when and by how much it will lift output. Sanctions against the nation should be lifted by late November, the Iranian Oil Ministry’s Shana news agency said.
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