The U.S. average retail price of diesel dropped 1.1 cents to $2.965 a gallon for the week of Jan. 21, despite an increase in crude oil prices to $53 per barrel, or $3 higher than a week before.
The drop in diesel marked the 14th consecutive weekly decline in the cost of trucking’s main fuel. The price has fallen 42.9 cents during that period.
Diesel costs 6 cents a gallon more than it did a year ago, when the price was $2.905. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported the prices Jan. 22 due to the national holiday the day before that celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.
Average diesel prices fell in all regions of the country except the Gulf Coast, where the average price rose 0.2 cent a gallon to $2.790.
The California region saw prices fall just 0.3 cent a gallon to $3.739.
The average price of gasoline rose 0.4 cent to $2.251.
Regional prices were mixed, rising in four areas and declining in five.