Diesel Rises 3.9¢ to $3.867; Gas Gains 14.7¢
Diesel rose 3.9 cents to $3.867 a gallon — the second straight increase and biggest since February — while gasoline gained 14.7 cents, the Department of Energy reported.
Gasoline’s national average price rose to $3.639 a gallon, DOE said. The rise was the biggest increase since an 18.1-cent jump on Feb. 4.
The diesel upturn followed last week’s 1.1-cent rise, which had in turn followed a cumulative 7.3-cent downturn in six straight drops.
The price is the highest in seven weeks, and the increase is the biggest since a 5.3-cent gain on Feb. 18, DOE figures showed.
Diesel is now 17.2 cents more expensive than the same week last year, DOE said late Monday following its weekly survey of filling stations.
Gasoline had declined 16.3 cents in four straight downturns, and its price is now 21.2 cents over the same week a year ago.
Crude oil, meanwhile, rose 37 cents Monday to settle at $106.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg News reported.
Oil pushed past $100 a barrel this month for the first time in more than a year. With the exception of last Wednesday, when crude futures finished Nymex trading at $106.52, Monday’s closing price was the highest since March 2012.
Each week, DOE surveys about 400 diesel filling stations and 800 gasoline stations to compile national average prices.
