Retail Fuel Prices Fall Slightly From Records
he average U.S. retail price of diesel fuel fell 1.6 cents to $2.392 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday, and gasoline also fell off its record set a week earlier.
While dropping from last Monday's record $2.408, the latest diesel price was the second-highest on record, according to DOE figures.
Gasoline's $2.317 per-gallon price was 1.1 cents below a week earlier and also was the second-highest price on record, DOE figures showed. Gas prices shot up 10.2 cents the week before, the second-highest one-week jump on record.
With diesel 64.8 cents higher than a year ago, that's an additional $431 million in costs for trucking this year over the same week last year. Gasoline prices, 38.9 cents higher than last year, added $113 million in costs.
Diesel had jumped 6 cents in last Monday’s survey, and last week’s record was the third straight for trucking's main fuel.
Prior to the current round of increases, the record high diesel price had been $2.316 a gallon, set April 11.
Crude oil prices began to recede slightly last week, coming off a record high of $62.10 a barrel July 7 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Crude oil futures closed at $57.32 Monday, down 77 cents from Friday’s closing price, partly on news that Hurricane Emily would miss the U.S. Gulf Coast region and largely spared Gulf oil production.
DOE reported that diesel prices fell in most regions of the country, the Rocky Mountain region being the exception. Prices there rose 2.2 cents, to $2.43 a gallon.
Prices on the West Coast and the California sub-region, while remaining the nation’s highest overall prices, remained largely static. The West Coast price fell 0.4 cent to $2.53, while California’s held at $2.589.
The Gulf Coast region’s price dropped 2.4 cents $2.331, the Midwest’s fell 2.3 cents to $2.361 and the East Coast region’s average fell 1.5 cents to $2.412.
