Average Diesel Price Eases for Second Straight Week
he average retail price of diesel fuel fell 1.3 cents per gallon to $1.568, the second decline in as many weeks, the Department of Energy said Monday.
The most recent decline followed 1-cent drop the week before. The combined 2.3-cent drop over the past two weeks would save a trucker $4.60 on a 200-gallon purchase at retail pumps.
While diesel is 9.4 cents below a year earlier, excluding the prior two weeks it remained at its highest point since March 31.
Used by about a third of commercial trucking, gasoline is up 1.9% from a year earlier, but down 6.2% from a record $1.747 a gallon reported for
he week ended Aug. 25.
The price of diesel rose 8.8 cents to $1.741 in DOE's West Coast grouping of states. California reported an 11.4-cent spike to $1.81.
However, in the rest of the nation, the price of diesel has dipped in February as severe winter weather has eased. The Midwest, East Coast and Gulf Coast each saw its average diesel price fall by at least 2.6 cents, according to DOE figures.
Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel-filling stations to compile a national snapshot price of diesel.
