Diesel Jumps 11.4¢ to $2.79
After falling by less than a penny in each of the past two weeks, the national average price of diesel fuel jumped 11.4 cents Monday to $2.79 a gallon, the Energy Department reported.
Gasoline, meanwhile, jumped 9.7 cents to $2.707 a gallon, continuing an upward trend over the past two months.
Gasoline has risen 54.2 cents in nine straight weekly increases and is 11.9 cents higher than the same week last year.
The diesel price is the highest since mid-September, when diesel prices were receding from last summer’s near-record highs, according to DOE figures.
Crude oil prices have risen sharply in the past two weeks, climbing from below $57 a barrel March 19 to just below $66 on Monday, when futures closed at $65.95 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.
Before the two modest downturns, in which diesel fell by a total of about a penny, the price had risen 27.2 cents in six straight increases.
The price of trucking’s main fuel is now 17.3 cents higher at the pump than the same week last year.
The Midwest regional price led the increases, at 12.5 cents to $2.78, with the Gulf Coast not far behind, rising 12.3 cents to $2.766.
Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
