U.S. Retail Diesel Average Falls 0.9 Cent to $1.983
he national average price of diesel fuel fell 0.9 cent to $1.983 a gallon, the Department of Energy said Monday.
The decrease was the first drop for trucking’s main fuel after three weeks of increases, DOE’s figures showed.
Meanwhile, the average price of regular gasoline fell 0.2 cent to $1.909 a gallon, the first drop following four straight increases, DOE said. Gasoline was still 27.1 cents higher than the same time last year, the department reported.
Despite the drop in diesel's price, it was 41.5 cents higher than a year earlier. The trucking industry burns an estimated 650 million gallons of diesel each week, which would raise the cost to the trucking industry by about $270 million more than the same week last year.
The average price fell in every area of the country except the Rocky Mountain region, where it rose 2.1 cents; West Coast, where it rose 2.8 cents; and California, where it increased 1.8 cents.
California had the highest regional average price, at $2.144 a gallon, DOE reported.
The East Coast region saw the biggest drop for the week, down 2.3 cents to $2.025 a gallon, though its New England subsection had an average price of $2.22 a gallon.
Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel-filling stations to compile a national snapshot price.
