Diesel Jumps 9.6¢ to $2.801; Gas Gains a Dime to $2.674
Diesel and gasoline both rose for a third straight week, with diesel jumping 9.6 cents to $2.801 a gallon, its highest level in almost a year, the Energy Department said.
Gas gained a dime to $2.674, its highest national average price since June, DOE said Monday following its weekly survey of filling stations.
The diesel increase — which followed last week’s 10.5-cent spike — left it 48.7 cents below the same week last year, while gasoline is just 1.8 cents below a year ago.
Prior to the three-week upturn diesel fell for five straight weeks, declining 9.2 cents in that time. Monday’s price was the highest since the $2.809 national average recorded last Nov. 17.
Gas is at its highest level since the $2.691 per gallon average recorded on June 22.
The gains have been propelled by rising crude oil prices, which closed over $80 a barrel last week for the first time in a year. Oil was trading at about $67 a barrel a month ago, at the end of September.
But crude futures fell by the most in a month Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, dropping $1.87 to $78.63 per barrel at the close of Nymex trading as the U.S. dollar strengthened in value, Bloomberg reported.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
