Diesel prices dip for seventh straight week, reports EIA

The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported this week that the average price per gallon for diesel gasoline saw decline for the seventh straight week, falling 0.6 cents to $2.310 per gallon.

This follows declines of 3.2 cents, 3.1 cents, 2.3 cents, 1.2 cents, 0.9 cents, and 0.3 cents, respectively, over the previous six weeks.

Weekly prices have been either flat or down going back to the week of June 20, when it was at $2.426 per gallon. And during that stretch prices have seen a cumulative 11.6 cent decline.

Prior to that for a stretch of 20 weeks, only three weeks saw a decrease in price.

On an annual basis, this week’s price is down 30.5 cents compared to the same week a year ago.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil is currently trading at $45.54 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which is more than 16 percent above its $39.19 monthly low from Aug. 3, according to Reuters.

Shippers are vigilant in keeping a watchful eye on fuel prices, due to the fact that in most modes they’re paying a fairly high percentage in terms of their average fuel surcharge above standard base rates. That was made clear in the findings of a recent Logistics Management (LM) readership study of more than 200 buyers of freight transportation and logistics services.

According to the survey, 5.5% of respondents noted that average fuel surcharges were more than 20% above base rates, with 11.4% noting that they were 16% to 20% higher. We also found that 17.9% and 24.9% of shippers said they were in the 11% to 15% and 6% to 10% ranges, respectively, with 28.4% stating that their average fuel surcharges were 5% or less above base rates.