Diesel Fuel Price Falls to $1.159

The price of diesel fuel at the nation’s pumps dropped nine-tenths of a cent last week to stand at $1.159 cents per gallon on Monday, the Department of Energy reported.

It is the lowest price since Aug. 9, 1999, when the price stood at $1.156 per gallon, according to DOE’s historical data.

At the same time, the price of gasoline declined 0.1 cent last week to $1.111. While the biggest trucks run on diesel fuel, a significant portion of the commercial trucking business is carried out in trucks that use gasoline. Both fuels impact the cost of truck service.

The price was down in three of the DOE’s geographic regions, and unchanged in the remaining two.

The largest price move, according to the DOE’s Energy Information Administration, was on the West Coast, where the price of diesel fuel declined 3 cents per gallon to $1.226.

The other regions where the price dropped were the Midwest (down 1.3 cents per gallon) and the Gulf Coast (down 0.8 cent per gallon).

The East Coast and the Rocky Mountain regions saw the price hold steady at $1.192 and $1.128 respectively.

The price of diesel fuel rose in two of the East Coast’s smaller, subregions – New England and the Central Atlantic. In New England the price rose 0.4 cent per gallon to $1.295 and in the Central Atlantic states, diesel jumped 0.2 cent per gallon to $1.283.

The highest average price in the United States was found in New England and the lowest was along the Gulf Coast.

The EIA surveys 350 fueling stations in five districts at the start of each week, and usually reports the results on the same day that it polls the stations.

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