Diesel Prices Keep Rising

Parts of the eastern United States were hammered again by escalating diesel fuel prices, led by a 15.3-cent surge in the Central Atlantic region and 13-cent increase in New England in the course of a week.

	Fuel Prices
	Week of Jan. 31:
	source	price		change
	DOE	143.9		+2.1
	Comdata*	141.7		+11.5
	OPIS self-serve*	143.0		+11.2
	OPIS wholesale*	89.4		+9.4
	*Comdata and OPIS figures are from week of Jan. 22. Click here for more fuel prices.
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The average price of diesel reached $1.966 a gallon in New England and $1.847 in the Central Atlantic, according to figures from the federal Energy Information Administration — levels not seen in those parts of the country in several years. The average for the overall East Coast came in at $1.564. On the West Coast, the California price averaged $1.545 at the pump.

In the past month — since EIA’s Dec. 27 report — the New England price has risen nearly 44%, and the Central Atlantic region by more than 34%. They are among the nine regions that comprise the five Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts.

Increases in other parts of the country have not been so breath-taking, ranging from 2.6% to 12.5% in January. As a result, the Jan. 31 national average diesel price posted a 2.1-cent rise to $1.439 a gallon.

For the full story, see the Feb. 7 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.