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Drillers in the Eagle Ford, a Texas shale oil patch, likely will scale back activity in 2019 as lower crude prices eat into cash flows, according to consulting firm Rystad Energy AS.

The U.S. average retail price of diesel dropped 3.5 cents to $3.013 a gallon, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Jan. 7, even as crude oil prices saw renewed vigor and broached the mark of $50 per barrel.

LAS VEGAS — Daimler Trucks North America announced SAE Level 2 automated driving will be available beginning in July on its flagship Freightliner Cascadia model, calling it an industry first.

Oil headed for its longest stretch of daily gains in more than 17 months as the U.S. Federal Reserve sought to ease investor concerns, China moved to stimulate its economy and OPEC production cutbacks took effect.

Infrastructure and trade loom large for trucking in the year ahead as freight carriers adjust to a slower, but still positive, rate of economic growth in 2019, according to industry experts interviewed by Transport Topics.

The projected $2.70 a gallon pump price for 2019 is 3 cents lower than 2018 levels, although this year’s high could reach $3 as soon as May and top $4 in some cities, according to GasBuddy’s Price Fuel Outlook. The lower prices have not escaped Trump’s attention, who equated them to a tax cut in a tweet Jan. 1.

The U.S. average retail price of diesel dropped 2.9 cents to $3.048 a gallon, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported, as crude oil prices hovered around $45 per barrel.

Oil started 2019 with another price slide as weaker Chinese manufacturing data pointed to slowing demand in the world’s second-biggest consumer of the fuel and to growing risks of a global crude surplus.

The U.S. may be exporting natural gas at a record clip, but that hasn’t stopped it from accepting new imports. A tanker with fuel from Nigeria is sitting near the Cove Point import terminal in Maryland, while a second ship with Russian gas is idling outside Boston Harbor.