°®¶¹´«Ã½

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Executives with both for-hire and private fleets said they increasingly are turning to cost-saving technologies and natural gas to reduce expenses in a slow-growth economy.

Oil held at a three-month high over $96 a barrel Monday, as European leaders were set to meet to discuss ways to combat their ongoing debt crisis, Bloomberg reported.

The price of diesel exhaust fluid at the pump at U.S. truck stops dropped significantly in July, following a similar decline for urea, the main ingredient in DEF.

U.S. retail diesel prices spiked 11.5 cents to $3.965 a gallon last week, the Department of Energy reported, the largest increase in 17 months. Experts attributed the gain to higher crude prices, falling inventories and a refinery fire.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has pushed back the deadline for public comment about changes to the hours-of-service rules for oilfield haulers.

Stockpiles of crude oil dropped 3.7 million barrels to 366.3 million, in the seven days ended Aug. 10, said the Department of Energy on Wednesday.

Comdata Corp. said it has started processing cardless fueling transactions using radio-frequency identification, while two major truck-stop chains work to install the wireless technology at all of their fueling locations.

Managers of the nation’s largest shipper-owned truck fleets are taking steps to counter the rising cost of fuel and equipment by more closely monitoring drivers and using new data collection techniques to make better routing decisions and improve compliance with safety and environmental regulations.