Diesel Price Plummets Nine Cents to $1.662 a Gallon

The national average price of diesel fuel fell 9 cents a gallon last week, the Department of Energy reported Monday. The decline, the average's second in as many as weeks, set the average price of the fuel at $1.662.

Diesel fuel, the primary fuel for trucking, had been steadily increasing before starting a decline last week.

The decline 5.1% in diesel prices from the reported price of $1.752 on March 17 came as the United States went to war in Iraq and crude oil prices fell as U.S. forces began seizing Iraqi oil fields and assuaging fears that the war would disrupt oil supplies for several months.

Diesel prices fell to a six-week low, DOE said Monday. On Feb. 10, the price of diesel was $1.662 a gallon.

Last week, oil prices fell 23% before closing Friday at $26.90 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported (Click here for related coverage.).

The price of gasoline, trucking's other major fuel, fell 3.8 cents a gallon to $1.69, the DOE said.

In each of the nine geographic regions that the DOE’s Energy Information Administration measures diesel prices in, the price fell by at least 5.1 cents but by an average of 8.1 cents.

The largest price drop, a decline of 11.2 cents, was felt in the Midwest, EIA said.

Consumers on the Gulf Coast states enjoyed the lowest diesel prices in the country, at $1.584 a gallon; while the highest diesel fuel prices were found in New England, with drivers paying $1.892 a gallon, according to EIA.

Each week, EIA surveys 350 diesel-filling stations around the country to compile a snapshot of diesel prices.