WASHINGTON — Slowly receding stockpiles of distillate fuel and a recovering economy was supposed to send diesel prices skyrocketing again this winter, but so far that hasn’t been the case.

Diesel in the U.S. continued its six-week trend, losing 2.4 cents a gallon this week to land at a national average of $2.748, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Over the last six weeks, diesel has slipped 6 cents — the largest drop since prices started edging down again in early November.

The average, however, is still 32.6 cents higher than the national average during the same period in 2008.

The New England region had the highest prices, averaging $2.870. The lowest prices were found in the Lower Atlantic and Midwest regions.

On this side of the 49th, diesel remains relatively constant. This week it averaged 95 cents across Canada.

As usual, the highest pump prices were in Atlantic Canada and northern Quebec. New Brunswick had some of the highest averages, ranging between $1.02 and $1.05 a liter, which was higher than even YellowKnife and Whitehorse.

The GTA and surrounding areas of southern Ontario experienced prices mostly in the lower 90s range.

Edmonton and Calgary had some of the lowest prices, as always, ranging between 84 and 87 cents a liter.