Diesel prices continued their week over week decline, dropping nearly three cents from last week's national average price. The national average price for diesel was $3.721 per gallon, down 2.8 cents from last week.

Oil prices, on the other hand, gained just $10 over the past week, closing at $85.81 a barrel in New York on Tuesday afternoon -- a modest week-to-week gain by historical standards.

Tuesday's 40-cent rise continued the crude market's rebound from a one-year low set a week ago. Crude has gained more than 13% from that point on hopes for a resolution to the European debt crisis, encouraging fundamental petroleum data and U.S. economic news that wasn't as bad as expected. In the absence of any dominant economic data or news reports Tuesday, the market largely stayed put.

Despite a 14.7-cent decline over the past five weeks, diesel is still more than 65 cents higher than it was this time one year ago, and 40.3 cents below the year's high of $4.124, set in early May.