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ime datetime="00Z">November 4, 2002 3:15 PM, EST

The national average price of diesel fuel slid back 1.4 cents to $1.442, in the second straight decline after 10 weeks of increases, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

Heavy-duty trucks use large amounts of diesel fuel.

The average price of gasoline, the other major fuel for trucking, rose 0.4 cent a gallon to $1.448

Although fluctuations in demand caused by offsetting Middle East war threats with strict adherence to quotas among oil cartel members have kept prices in a range between $25-30 a barrel; most analysts have said the oil markets lack underlying strength.

Only two of the areas surveyed by DOE’s Energy Information Administration failed to show reductions in the price from last week.

They were New England, were the retail price rose 0.1 cent, from $1.496 to $1.497, the West Coast, where it rose 0.3 cent, from $1.521.

The EIA surveys 350 diesel filling stations each week to compile a national snapshot of the price of diesel fuel.

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