WASHINGTON, DC- The average cost of diesel has dropped for the fifth time in a row, hitting its lowest level since December 2009, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

In the U.S., diesel is down three cents from last week, hitting $3.754 per gallon and has fallen 19 cents over the past five weeks. When compared to the same time last year, diesel costs $1.198 less.

Gasoline prices also dropped, but the drop was less steep – only 0.5 cents from last week, hitting a national U.S. average of $2.408. It’s the third time in a row that gas prices have dropped, but are still 35 cents higher than January’s multi-year low of $2.044.

Meantime, the price of crude oil edged higher on Monday, picking up 27 cents in New York trading before settling at $51.91 per barrel. Despite the slight uptick, it’s down four cents from last Tuesday’s opening market price of $51.95, following a volatile trading last week and is still down around 50 percent from more than $100 per barrel hit last July.

With files from HDT’s Evan Lockridge.