Diesel Rises 2.1¢ to $3.866 in First Gain in 11 Weeks; Gas Jumps 6.5¢ to $3.603
Diesel rose 2.1 cents to $3.866 a gallon, its first increase in 11 weeks, while gasoline jumped 6.5 cents to $3.603, the Department of Energy reported.
Diesel had declined 31.4 cents in the past 10 weeks of downturns after topping out at $4.159 in late February, a four-and-a-half-year high.
Despite the uptick, trucking’s main fuel is 13.6 cents less than the same week last year, DOE said late Monday following its weekly survey of filling stations.
Gasoline, meanwhile, followed last week’s 1.8-cent increase with its biggest gain in three months, DOE figures showed.
The motor fuel, which rose 13.6 cents on Feb. 18, had fallen 26.4 cents in its nine declines prior to last week.
Diesel took its biggest gain in DOE’s Midwest region for a second straight week, gaining 4.1 cents to $3.909 a gallon, following last week’s 2.9-cent rise.
It rose by the same amount in California — which is part of the West Coast region but DOE also breaks out separately — to $4.042, the highest overall price.
Crude oil, meanwhile, fell for a third day Monday, dropping 85 cents to $95.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg News reported.
Last week’s oil prices — which finished Nymex trading over $96 a barrel in four of five trading days — were the highest in five weeks, according to Bloomberg’s Nymex figures.
Each week, DOE surveys about 400 diesel filling stations and 800 gasoline stations to compile national average prices.
