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May 3, 2005 1:00 PM, EDT

The average price of retail diesel fuel fell 2.7 cents to $2.262 a gallon, the Energy Department said Monday following its weekly survey of filling stations.

The drop was the second in three weeks, though it did not erase last Monday’s gain of 3 cents, DOE figures showed.

Diesel soared to four consecutive all-time record highs from March 21 through April 11, peaking at $2.316 a gallon.

Meanwhile, for the second straight week the average price of regular gasoline dropped 0.1 cent, DOE reported, falling to $2.235 a gallon.

Gasoline was 39.1 cents higher than the same time last year, while diesel was 54.5 cents higher than last year.

The latest decline followed lower crude oil prices last week.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange touched a two-month low of $49.03 a barrel Monday before rising to close at $50.92, up $1.20 from Friday's close, Bloomberg reported.

DOE reported that diesel prices fell in every geographic region. The Midwest saw the biggest decline, dropping 3.6 cents to $2.194 a gallon, the lowest regional average.

The West Coast, which saw its regional price drop 1.9 cents to $2.53 a gallon, and California, down 0.9 cent to $2.561, continued to have the highest retail prices in the country.

Each week DOE surveys 350 diesel-filling stations to compile a national snapshot price.