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October 4, 2000 10:56 AM, EDT

President Clinton’s plan to pump oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve took the steam out of the fuel price express last week.

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Since announcement of the plan Sept. 22, the price of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped from $37.20 a barrel on Sept. 20 to $31.03 on Sept. 28, helped along by Saudi promises to increase production still more if the price does not fall.

The national average price of diesel fuel edged upward 0.4 cent last week, to stand at $1.657 a gallon on Sept. 25. While the new average set another record, it represented the smallest increase since Aug. 7, when the price stood at $1.410.

According to a “rule of thumb” used by analysts at the Energy Information Administration, a drop of $6 per barrel in the price of crude would produce dollar-for-dollar drop in the price of diesel fuel — meaning, eventually, a nine-to-fifteen cent drop in the pump price.

For the full story, see the Oct. 2 print edition of Transport Topics. .