Diesel Dips 0.9¢ to $3.955; Gas Rises to Record $3.332
The national average pump price of diesel fuel dipped 0.9 cent to $3.955 a gallon, while gasoline rose to a second straight record, the Department of Energy said Monday.
The diesel decline followed last week’s 2.5-cent drop, which had been the first downturn in two months. Monday’s decline left trucking’s main fuel $1.115 higher than the same week last year.
Gasoline, meanwhile, rose 4.2 cents to a record $3.332 a gallon, following last week’s record $3.29, DOE said. Gas is now 53 cents higher than this time last year.
The head of DOE’s Energy Information Administration said the agency will be boosting its summer gasoline pricing forecast to more than $3.60 a gallon, Bloomberg reported.
EIA chief Guy Caruso told reporters in Washington that the agency will make the projection in its monthly short-term energy outlook to be released Tuesday, citing continuing high oil prices, Bloomberg said.
Crude oil jumped almost $3 on Monday, to close at $109.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, following Friday’s $2.40 increase, Bloomberg reported. Oil closed at a record $110.33 on March 13.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
