Diesel Rises 9.5¢ to More Than $4 a Gallon; Gasoline Jumps 18.1¢ to $3.538
Diesel rose 9.5 cents to $4.022 a gallon, the first time it has topped $4 in more than two months, while gasoline jumped 18.1 cents to $3.538, its biggest spike in almost two years, the Department of Energy said.
Diesel now costs 16.6 cents more at the pump than a year ago, while gasoline is 5.6 cents above the same week last year, DOE said Monday following its weekly survey of filling stations.
Monday’s diesel increase was the biggest since an 11.5-cent hike in mid-August. It has risen almost 13 cents in the past three weeks of increases, after falling 14 cents in seven straight declines.
Gasoline, meanwhile, had its biggest gain since rising 19.4 cents on Feb. 28, 2011, when the price was $3.383.
Gas has risen 28.4 cents in seven straight weeks of increases, according to DOE figures.
Regionally, diesel jumped 11.7 cents on the West Coast to $4.166 and rose 11.2 cents in the Midwest to $3.978, DOE figures showed.
The increases follow higher oil prices, which rose last week for an eighth straight week, marking the highest string of weekly gains in eight years, Bloomberg News reported.
Oil closed Friday at $97.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, though the price dropped $1.60 on Monday — the biggest decline in two months — to finish at $96.17 on the Nymex, Bloomberg said.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
