Fuel prices mostly down, national averages remain below $4 per gallon

A few regions saw an increase in fuel prices for the first time in several weeks, but most were down including the national average price per gallon of diesel. ProMiles.com showed a national fuel average of $3.929 on its Dec. 25 report. That is a 5-cent decrease from the previous week’s report.

ProMiles produces a report that is similar to one published weekly by the federal Energy Information Administration. A key difference between the two reports is the type and number of fueling stations in order to calculate its averages. While ProMiles uses its direct feed from thousands of truck stops to develop its averages, EIA surveys 400 truck stops and convenience stores nationwide. The EIA report is also the average price of diesel for the previous week.

California had the largest decline of any region (11.1 cents), while the West Coast region was also down by 11 cents. The West Coast without California region dropped by 9 cents, the Midwest declined by 7.7 cents and the Rocky Mountain saw its average fuel price fall by 5.5 cents.

Increases were reported in the Lower Atlantic, East Coast and Gulf Coast. Of those increases, only the Lower Atlantic was more than 1 cent.

According to ProMiles, the highest fuel price per gallon is $5.315 (California) and the lowest is $3.582 (Gulf Coast).

Four regions have an average price less than $4 per gallon.

Here are the average U.S. prices for a gallon of diesel reported for each region on Monday, Dec. 25 by ProMiles.com:

• U.S. – $3.929, down 5 cents
• East Coast – $4.078, up one-fifth of a cent
• New England – $4.30, down 3.2 cents
• Central Atlantic – $4.396, down 2.3 cents
• Lower Atlantic – $3.857, up 1.7 cents
• Midwest – $3.76, down 7.7 cents
• Gulf Coast – $3.582, up one-fifth of a cent
• Rocky Mountain – $3.889, down 5.5 cents
• West Coast – $4.765, down 11 cents
• West Coast without California –$4.187, down 9 cents
• California – $5.315, down 11.1 cents

Click here to view ProMiles fuel data averaged by state.

AAA reported the retail average U.S. price per gallon of diesel at $4.016 for Dec. 25

A week previous the average retail U.S. price was $4.015 per gallon.

A month previous, AAA reported $4.237 per gallon of diesel, and a year ago $4.684 per gallon.

The highest recorded retail average U.S. diesel price was $5.816 per gallon on June 19, 2022, according to AAA.

EIA’s Dec. 25 report showed the national price per gallon for diesel increased by 2 cents to $3.914.

That national average for this past week was 62.3 cents less than it was one year ago.

The most significant changes to price were increases of 8.6 cents in the Lower Atlantic and 5.3 cents in the East Coast. Also, up by 3.9 cents was the Gulf Coast’s average price.

Of the six regions reporting a decline, the largest was 2.9 cents in the California region was the largest. New England was down by over 2 cents as well and the Rocky Mountain region reported a drop of just under 2 cents.

Average U.S. price for a gallon of diesel on Dec. 25 as reported by the EIA:

• U.S. – $3.914, up 2 cents
• East Coast – $4.022, up 5.3 cents
• New England – $4.339, down 2.3 cents
• Central Atlantic – $ 4.323, down 1.3 cents
• Lower Atlantic – $3.879, up 8.6 cents
• Midwest – $3.798, down four-fifths of a cent
• Gulf Coast – $3.608, up 3.9 cents
• Rocky Mountain – $3.916, down 1.7 cents
• West Coast – $4.651, down two-fifths of a cent
• West Coast less California – $4.169, up 1.6 cents
• California – $5.202, down 2.9 cents LL

Last week’s fuel report is here.