Diesel Price Resumes Climb, Rising 2.5¢ to $3.932 a Gallon
A week after falling for the first time in four months, diesel resumed its climb toward $4 a gallon, rising 2.5 cents to a national average of $3.932 at the pump, the Department of Energy reported.
Gasoline also rose, increasing 3.4 cents to $3.596 a gallon, marking its 15th gain in the past 17 weeks, according to DOE figures.
The diesel increase followed a dip of 0.1 cent last Monday and a jump of about $4 in oil prices to more than $105 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange last week, in part due to Middle Eastern political and military concerns.
Trucking’s main fuel is now 99.3 cents over the same week last year, which would add almost $200 to the price of a 200-gallon fill-up.
Gasoline is 79.8 cents over the same week a year ago. Both fuels are at their highest level since Sept. 29, 2008, when diesel was $3.959 and gas was $3.632 a gallon.
Diesel’s all-time record was $4.764, set on July 14, 2008, while gasoline’s was $4.114 per gallon, set a week earlier.
Diesel now tops $4 in the East Coast sub-regions of New England ($4.095) and the Central Atlantic ($4.061), and is higher in the West Coast region, at $4.155.
Its highest price is in California, at $4.256 per gallon. California is part of the West Coast region that DOE breaks out separately in its weekly report.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
