The U.S. Department of Energy said on Tuesday that U.S. gasoline prices fell to their lowest level in seven weeks and diesel fell just below $4 a gallon for the first time in two months. The national price for regular unleaded gas fell 5.5 cents over the last week to $3.79 a gallon, the agency said. Diesel prices fell 5 cents to $3.95 a gallon.

Consumer demand for gasoline in the U.S. last week picked up by 3.1 percent, the MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse report said on Wednesday. However, week-on-week demand over the last four weeks was still down by 2 percent over the same period last year.

“The overall demand picture has not changed that much over the past couple of months with demand remaining down 1 to 2 percent year-over-year for the four-week moving average,” said John Gamel, a gasoline analyst at MasterCard Advisors.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Reuters