Diesel Drops 0.2 Cent From Record to $3.148 a Gallon
he price of U.S. retail diesel fuel fell 0.2 cent from last week's all-time record high to an average of $3.148 a gallon, the Energy Department reported Monday.
The price was still the second-highest on record, DOE said, and followed two straight record highs and four overall increases.
Meanwhile, the price of regular gasoline fell by 12.3 cents a gallon to an average of $2.725 a gallon, DOE said.
Diesel is now almost $1 — 96.8 cents — higher than a year ago, while gasoline’s price is 69 cents higher than the same week last year.
Trucking burns an estimated 665 million gallons of diesel each week, which would add about $644 million to the industry’s expenses over the same week last year.
Diesel spiked a record 34.6 cents on Oct. 3 to reach a then-record $3.144 a gallon.
Prices were mixed regionally, DOE reported. Average prices rose in three of its surveyed regions — the Midwest, Rocky Mountains and West Coast — while it fell in the East Coast and Gulf Coast regions.
The low regional price was in the East Coast, at $3.116, while the high was the West Coast and Rocky Mountains, tied at $3.178, though the Rocky Mountain region was not far behind, at $3.177.
California, which DOE breaks out separately, saw its price fall 3 cents but still had the highest price overall, at $3.21 a gallon.
DOE surveys 350 diesel-filling stations every week to compile a national snapshot price.
