Diesel Jumps 13.1¢ to $2.221; Gas Tops $2
Diesel fuel rose for a second straight week, jumping 13.1 cents to an average $2.221 per gallon, the Department of Energy said Monday.
The increase was the biggest since Memorial Day, when diesel jumped 22.6 cents to $4.723 a gallon on its run toward the $4.764 record set in mid-July.
Monday’s increase left trucking’s main fuel $1.743 below the same week last year and $2.543 below the July record.
The upturn was just the fourth increase in the past 36 weeks, but diesel has jumped 20.4 cents in the past two weeks when combined with last week’s 7.3-cent gain.
Gasoline also continued its recent upward trend, gaining 8.4 cents to $2.042 a gallon, the first time gas has topped $2 since mid-November.
The upturn was the 10th in the past 13 weeks, and left gas $1.244 below the same week last year and $2.05 below the record $4.114 set last July 7.
Oil, meanwhile, fell almost $4 Monday to close at $48.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange — the biggest drop in a month, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures closed on the Nymex over $50 last week for the first time since November, after starting the month near $40 a barrel, Bloomberg figures showed.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
