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Massachusetts has indefinitely suspended a mandate that was to take effect July 1 requiring all diesel fuel and heating oil sold there to be 2% biodiesel.

U.S. retail fuel prices continued their midsummer slide last week, as the average cost of a gallon of diesel dipped 2.1 cents to $2.903, and gasoline slipped 0.8 cent to $2.718, the Department of Energy reported.

Oil prices fell below $77 a barrel Wednesday following a Department of Energy report that showed diesel and gasoline inventories improved last week even though oil stockpiles declined, Bloomberg reported.

Massachusetts has indefinitely suspended a 2% biodiesel mandate for fuel and heating oil that was to take effect this month, saying that without the federal tax credit for the producers, the cost of biodiesel would be too high for consumers.

The U.S. trade deficit widened 4.8% in May to the highest level in a year and a half, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The Environmental Protection Agency has released the proposed 2011 percentage standards for its Renewable Fuel Standard.

Gasoline’s national average price fell 3.9 cents in the past two weeks to $2.73 a gallon, according to the latest Lundberg Survey of filling stations released Sunday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, noting “growing interest” in alternative-fuel conversion systems, recently proposed to streamline certification of aftermarket conversions that turn Class 8 diesel engines into engines that can burn diesel and natural gas.

The U.S. retail diesel average dipped 3.2 cents to $2.924 last week, the seventh decline in eight weeks, the Department of Energy reported.