Diesel prices dropped for third straight week, with the average price per gallon down 3 cents to $3.919 per gallon, according to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA).
This decline follows a 2.5 cent decrease last week and a 0.7 cent dip the preceding week. Prior to this three-week stretch of declines—the first time diesel has headed down for that duration since June—diesel prices held firm at $3.891 per gallon for two straight weeks, which marked the highest weekly price since the week of April 1, when it hit $3.993 per gallon. Prior to the matching weeks at $3.981 per gallon, diesel prices rose a cumulative 8.5 cents over the previous three weeks.
What’s more, this week’s 3 cent drop-off is the largest weekly decline for diesel since April 29.
On an annual basis, the average price per gallon of diesel is down 16 cents, according to EIA data.
In its recent update of the short-term energy outlook, the EIA expects the average price of diesel for 2013 to be $3.96 per gallon, just ahead of 2012’s $3.97. For 2014, it expects the average price to be 3.82 per gallon.
The recent decline in prices is not entirely surprising, given record high refining in the U.S., shrinking consumer demand and slumping crude oil prices, Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for Internet website price tracker GasBuddy.com, said in a USA Today report.
Regardless of the fluctuation in diesel prices, shippers are cognizant of the impact diesel prices can have on their bottom line—for better or worse.
And they continue to be proactive on that front, too, by taking steps to reduce mileage and transit lengths when possible as well as cut down on empty miles. And even through shippers want to adjust budgets in order to offset the increased costs higher fuel prices bring, it is not always an easy thing to manage.