Diesel Average Falls 0.6 Cent to $3.027

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iesel fuel’s average national price dropped 0.6 cents to $3.027, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

Gasoline fell 7.9 cents to $2.845, DOE said, up 23.5 cents from a year ago.

The downturn in diesel prices, the third in three weeks, follows a 3.2-cent drop last week. Prices have risen 43.7 cents from a year ago.

Diesel’s average fell in three of the five national regions, rising 0.2 cent to 2.955 in the East Coast region and holding steady at 2.923 in the Gulf Coast region. In California, which DOE breaks out separately, the nation’s main trucking fuel dropped 2.1 cents to $3.200.

Meanwhile, crude oil futures dropped $2.01 to close at $70.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on news Tropical Storm Ernesto will not move into the Gulf of Mexico, where many oil platforms and refineries are located, Bloomberg reported.

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