National on-highway diesel prices fell last week for the first time in five weeks, according to the Energy Information Administration. The national average decreased by seven-tenths of a cent, with every major region except the Rocky Mountains experiencing a decrease.


All regions are still over the $4 mark, with the Gulf Coast being the cheapest at $4.024. Nationally, prices are over a dollar higher year-over-year.

Crude-oil futures also fell slightly on Monday. Crude for June deliver retreated a penny to $112.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had traded higher during electronic trading in Asian and European hours but turned lower early on in New York's floor session. The June contract hit $113.48 a barrel intraday, spurring fears of demand destruction as prices have surged 23 percent this year.

But in spite of demand destruction, turmoil in the Middle East is still pinching the world's oil supply. U.S. crude inventories fell 2.32 million barrels to 357 million, the first drop since February, the Energy Department said April 21. Saudi Arabia also announced that it will not increase its oil production even as exports from other countries in the region have dropped dramatically.


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