Diesel Finishes 2010 at Two-Year High $3.294
Diesel’s national average pump price finished 2010 at a more than two-year high, gaining 4.6 cents Monday to $3.294 a gallon, while gasoline topped the $3 level for the first time since October 2008, the Department of Energy reported.
Gas jumped 7 cents to $3.052 a gallon, DOE said following its weekly surveys of filling stations.
The gains were fueled by soaring crude oil prices, with oil trading over $90 a barrel for the first time since October 2008, Bloomberg reported.
Crude closed at $91.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday, the highest finishing price since Oct. 3, 2008, when it closed at $93.88 per barrel.
Diesel and gasoline also had not seen such high levels since October 2008 when coming off the historic highs of that summer, DOE records showed.
Trucking’s main fuel is at its highest level since the $3.482 national average of Oct. 20, 2008, while gas had not topped $3 since its $3.151 price on Oct. 13, 2008.
For both fuels, Monday’s prices mark the fourth straight week in which they have set two-year-high records, and in diesel’s case it is the fifth in seven weeks.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
