Diesel prices fell for a second straight week, dropping 2.9 cents to $3.833 a gallon average nationwide, according to the Department of Energy's weekly report.


That's 87.3 cents per gallon higher than the same week a year ago. Prices are still hovering near $4 a gallon in New England, where the DOE reported an average of $3.983, the highest in the country and down only .02 cents from last week.

The cheapest diesel was found in the Gulf Coast region, where prices averaged $3.765, down 2.5 cents from last week.

Crude oil futures, meanwhile, closed down $2.26 Monday at $85.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest since Aug. 26 and the biggest drop since Sept. 2. It was up slightly last week. Helping to keep oil prices down is concern and uncertainty about whether Greece will default on its debt and worries about the risk of the U.S. sliding into a double-dip recession.

Once Libya resumes oil production, oil producers in the OPEC oil cartel are expected to cut their output, according to published reports. Libya could reach pre-unrest production levels in 15 months.