The price of diesel fuel dropped 4.5 cents per gallon last week — to its lowest level in 15 weeks — and might have fallen even more if it were not for the high price of natural gas, a market analyst says.
But the outlook was confused because of a sharp decline in distillate inventories, which would be expected to push prices upward.
The national average retail price of diesel fuel was reported at $1.577 per gallon on Dec. 11, its lowest price since Aug. 28, when it was $1.536, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Conversely, natural gas prices hit $9.65 per 1,000 cubic feet on Dec. 12, a 13% increase since the previous week.
For the full story, see the Dec. 18 print edition of Transport Topics. .
