U.S. diesel price retreats for first time in nearly 4 months

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Updated Mar 28, 2011

Diesel Price11

Diesel prices last week declined for the first time since Nov. 29, 2010, and for only the fourth time in the last 25 weeks, albeit falling only a mere 0.1 cent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration’s report for the week ended March 21. The decrease follows last week’s 3.7-cent increase and comes two weeks after a 15.5-cent increase, the largest one-week jump since the week ended May 26, 2008.

The price of diesel now stands at $3.907 a gallon — 96.1 cents above the same week last year and 95 cents higher than the level in late September when the current surge began.

Regional prices saw a mix of increases and declines. Increases were led by the 3.7-cent climb in the Rocky Mountains. The largest decrease was 1.5 cents in the Central Atlantic. California had the nation’s most expensive diesel at $4.199, while the least expensive diesel was $3.841 in the Gulf Coast region.

Complete diesel price information is available on EIA’s website.