JOC Staff | Jul 05, 2011 4:30PM EDT
The average price of diesel fuel fell for the eight time in the last nine weeks, sliding 3.8 cents a gallon to the lowest point since Feb. 28, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
The national average price hit $3.85 a gallon in the week ending July 4, according to the EIA, including a 7.6-cent drop on the West Coast that pushed the price there to $3.993 a gallon, the first time in four months prices there have been below $4 a gallon.
The decline was even steeper in California, where the nation’s highest diesel prices fell an average of 8.1 cents to $4.065 a gallon.
The national average price now has fallen 27.4 cents, or 6.7 percent, since reaching its high point this year the week of May 2 at $4.124 a gallon.
Average prices were beyond $4 in only California and New England in the week ending July 4 but the savings at the pump may be running out. Oil prices gained ground on world futures markets this week as economic indicators suggested the factory sector was recovering from a spring slowdown.