The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported this week that the national average price per gallon for diesel gasoline fell for the eighth straight week.
Falling 4.6 cents, the national average now stands at $3.161 per gallon. This follows previous declines of 5.4 cents 2.1 cents, 3.5 cents, 2.1 cents, of 1.7 cents, 2.5 cents, and 1.4 cents, respectively, over the previous seven weeks. Diesel has fallen a cumulative 23.3 cents over the last 8 weeks.
Prior to the last eight weeks of declines, the weekly average price was $3.394 for the week ending October 15, which marked the single highest weekly average going back to the week of December 15, 2014, when it was at $3.419 per gallon, according to EIA data, and the average for the week ending October 8 was $3.385.
Over that eight-week stretch of gains, going back to the week of August 20 to the week of October 15, the national diesel average price increased by 18.7 cents over that span.
On an annual basis, this week’s $3.161 average is up 25.1 cents annually, which is down from last week’s annual spread of 28.5 cents, as well as annual spreads of 33.5 cents, 40.2 cents, 45.6 cents and 53.6 cents, respectively, over four weeks prior to that.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil is currently trading at $52.12 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down from $53.89 a week ago.