Diesel Prices Rise Again, Up 2.1 Cents to $1.438

The average retail diesel fuel price jumped 2.1 cents per gallon to $1.438, the highest national average since Sept. 24, 2001, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

Diesel fuel is the major fuel for long-haul trucking, and increases in the cost of the fuel can squeeze the bottom line for trucking companies. Trucking's other major fuel, gasoline, rose 1.8 cents a gallon to $1.413 last week, the DOE said.

The seventh consecutive run-up has added 13.6 cents to the price of a gallon of diesel fuel and $40.80 to the cost of filling the two 150-gallon tanks used by a long-haul trucker.

Since Jan. 21, when a gallon of diesel cost $1.140, the price has climbed steadily by 27.7 cents per gallon, the DOE’s Energy Information Administration said.

Prices jumped in each region of the country, with the Gulf Coast and the Midwest climbing 2.7 cents and 2.6 cents per gallon respectively. The West Coast rose only .02 cents per gallon due in large part to a .03 cent per gallon decrease in California diesel prices.

Each week the DOE’s Energy Information Administration surveys 350 diesel filling stations, using that information to compile a weekly snapshot of the price of diesel fuel.

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