Diesel prices fall for fifth straight week, reports EIA

The average price per gallon of diesel gasoline fell for the fifth straight week, the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) said this week.

Falling 1.1 cents to $3.886 per gallon, this most recent drop follows declines of 2.2 cents, 3 cents, 2.5 cents, and 0.7 cents over the previous four weeks and is the longest stretch of declines since falling for six straight weeks earlier this year from May 27 through July 1.

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 3.76 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.