The recent trend at the pump has seen the continual upward climb of both gasoline and diesel prices at a steady rate, but this week the trend seemed to be slowing.


This week's report by the U.S. Department of Energy's U.S. Energy Information Administration showed that while nationally the average price at the pump for both diesel and gasoline did increase, the increase was marginal. In fact, there are regions where the price per gallon went down.

The price of a gallon of diesel increased by 0.5 cents over last week's average, which is still 27 cents over the price per gallon one year ago at this time.

The average price for a gallon of diesel reached $4.13, and while prices are still highest on the West Coast, prices actually decreased there marginally by 0.1 cents.

Prices for gasoline also increased nationally to $3.85 per gallon. The increase was only 0.004 cents over last week's rates. The price per gallon is up 19 cents over last year's prices.

Oil prices have been fairly stable for the last several weeks. Benchmark crude ended up 12 cents to $96.54 in New York Monday. Oil has traded between $94 per barrel and $97 per barrel for nearly a month.

According to the Associated Press, one analyst expects oil prices to "dramatically deteriorate" as a sluggish global economy and rising U.S. supplies lead to an oversupply of oil.