Diesel Jumps 14.6¢ to $2.498 in Fifth Straight Gain
The national average price of diesel fuel jumped 14.6 cents to $2.498 a gallon, its fifth straight gain and the biggest single-week jump in more than a year, the Department of Energy said.
The increase left trucking’s main fuel $2.194 below the same week last year when it was rising toward its all-time record of $4.764, set last July 14.
Gasoline, meanwhile, gained a dime to $2.624, its ninth straight gain in which it has risen 58.7 cents, according to DOE figures.
Monday’s price is $1.415 below that of a year ago, when gas topped $4 for the first time. Gasoline set a record of $4.114 last July 7.
Diesel has risen 31.8 cents in the past five weeks and Monday’s increase was the biggest since May 26, 2008, when it leaped 22.6 cents.
It had gained 13.1 cents on March 30, then receded for about a month before resuming its recent climb in tandem with rising oil prices.
Crude oil pushed past $70 a barrel in intraday trading last week for the first time since November, though its New York Mercantile Exchange closing-price high was $68.81 on Thursday.
Oil futures slipped 14 cents Monday to close at $68.30 a barrel on the Nymex, Bloomberg reported.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
