Diesel's Average Price Slips 0.6 Cent to $2.442

he average price of retail diesel fuel slipped 0.6 cent to $2.442 a gallon in the first week of the new year compared with the last week of 2005, the Energy Department reported Tuesday.

The second straight decline following last week's 1.4-cent drop followed a 2.6-cent increase two weeks ago and a 1.1-cent uptick before that, according to DOE figures.

Prior to those increases, diesel’s average price fell 73.2 cents in the previous six weeks to $2.425, from its all-time record of $3.157 set on Oct. 24.

asoline’s average price fell for nine straight weeks before rising 3.8 cents three weeks ago from a six-month low of $2.147.

It had plummeted 78.1 cents from an October peak of $2.928 set on Oct. 3 and reached an all-time record high of $3.069 on Sept. 5 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Diesel was 48.5 cents higher than this time last year and gasoline was 46 cents over last year’s price.

With the trucking industry burning about 665 million of diesel and 290 million gallons of gasoline each week, that’s an added $323 million for diesel and $133 million for gasoline to the trucking industry's expense sheet.

Diesel fell in four of five national regions and was flat in the East Coast region, at $2.481 a gallon.

The biggest drop was in the Rocky Mountains, where the price fell 1.8 cents to $2.392 a gallon.

The West Coast had the highest average price among the five regions at $2.519, while California’s price — which DOE breaks out separately — was even higher, at $2.538.

Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.