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May 10, 2000 10:52 AM, EDT

Rising distillate inventories brought a 1-cent drop in the price of diesel fuel last week, although falling stocks of crude oil and a strike that has halted Norway’s North Sea oil exports seemed to threaten another jump in price.

	Fuel Prices
	Week of May 1:
	source	price		change
	DOE	141.8		-1.0
	Comdata*	140.3		+3.1
	OPIS self-serve*	141.7		+2.9
	OPIS wholesale*	85.5		+0.3
	*Comdata and OPIS figures are for the week of April 22-28. Click here for more fuel prices.
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However, a leading oil industry analyst predicted a period of price stability — albeit at a relatively high level — for diesel fuel over the next few weeks.

The national average retail price of diesel fuel as reported by the federal Energy Information Administration stood at $1.418 on May 1, compared with $1.428 on April 24.

Mark Derks of T-Chek, a provider of payment and information services to the transportation industry, said a general strike by Norwegian unions would have an effect on U.S. crude supplies.

For the full story, see the May 8 print edition of Transport Topics. .