After rising for three weeks in a row, the average price of diesel stayed essentially the same last week, rising only one tenth of a cent nationwide and dropping in some regions.


The national average reported Monday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration was $2.229. The average price has risen more than 22 cents per gallon since it fell to $2.017 on March 16. The price is currently $1.83 less than it was a year ago.

The average price fell by less than a penny in the East Coast, Midwest and Gulf Coast regions, but jumped by 3.7 cents in the Rocky Mountain region and by 2.5 cents on the West Coast.

Meanwhile, the price of crude oil fell Monday after the International Energy Agency cut its forecast for global oil demand. Crude oil for May delivery fell $2.19, or 4.2 percent, to settle at $50.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reports.

The IEA now predicts that world oil demand will fall by 2.4 million barrels per day this year compared to last year.