Diesel Average Tops $4 for First Time; Oil, Gas at Records
Diesel fuel’s national average price broke the $4 barrier for the first time, jumping 10.4 cents to $4.059 a gallon, the Energy Department said Monday.
Gasoline, meanwhile, continued to soar, jumping 5.7 cents to a record $3.389 a gallon, leaving gas 58.3 cents higher than the same week last year, DOE said.
The diesel increase — the biggest since a 15.5-cent spike four weeks ago — was the latest in a series of sharp increases that left diesel $1.182 higher than a year ago and more than $1 higher than it was just six months ago.
Crude oil prices have soared in the past year, helping to push both diesel and gasoline pump prices higher. Oil closed at a record $111.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, topping last Wednesday’s record of $110.87, Bloomberg reported.
Oil continued to rise in early trading Tuesday, setting an intraday record of $113.66 a barrel, breaking last Wednesday’s intraday record of $112.21, the Associated Press reported.
Diesel’s average price was reported at least $4 a gallon in all five national regions, DOE said, ranging from $4 on the Gulf Coast to $4.176 on the West Coast.
The price was $4.234 in California, which DOE breaks out separately from its regions, $4.239 in the East Coast’s New England sub-region and $4.266 in the East Coast’s Central Atlantic sub-region, giving those areas the highest prices in the country.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
