Oil ministers from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico agreed over the weekend to take "any measure needed" to ensure a stable international oil market. Published reports say the cost of diesel appears to be unaffected by talks of production cuts.
"The ministers agreed to continue monitoring fundamentals and adopt any measure needed, in a timely matter, to ensure a stable and adequately supplied oil market," The New York Times reported. The agreement followed a meeting between the OPEC nations of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela with Mexico, a non-OPEC nation.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries sought to persuade Mexico to reduce production to increase oil prices. Mexico did not participate, saying it was concerned higher prices would damage the global economy and lower demand for Mexican exports like cars.
Citing increased inventory and faltering economic growth in much of the world, OPEC announced last week that the outlook for demand for crude had abruptly deteriorated. The group agreed to cut daily supplies as of Sept. 1, by one million barrels, or 4.1 percent.
OPEC pumps about 40 percent of the world's oil. The group has trimmed its output twice this year by a total of 2.5 million barrels per day.
The weekly retail on-highway diesel prices released by the Energy Department Monday (July 30) show the cost of diesel fuel remained relatively unchanged from last week in the aftermath of OPEC's decision to scale back production. The national average price per gallon is $1.347 - the cheapest diesel has been in more than 18 months.
The biggest decrease from a week ago was in West Coast region. Diesel there dropped about 2.5 cents to $1.43 per gallon.
The lowest prices nationally are once again found in the Lower Atlantic region. Fuel there dipped slightly to $1.31 per gallon.
Fuel in the state of California fell about 2.5 cents per gallon to $1.49. Despite the drop, the cost of fuel in the state remains the highest nationally.
The remaining regions' price per gallon is as follows: East Coast, $1.35; New England, $1.46; Central Atlantic, $1.43; Midwest, $1.33; Gulf Coast, $1.31; and Rocky Mountain, $1.36, respectively.
