Diesel Rises for Ninth Week, Gaining 0.8¢ to $3.438 a Gallon
Diesel’s national average rose 0.8 cent to $3.438 a gallon, its ninth straight gain, while gasoline slipped for the first time in nine weeks, the Department of Energy said Monday.
The rising prices have left diesel every week for the past nine weeks at its highest level since October 2008, when it was coming off its record highs of that year.
Diesel is now 65.7 cents higher than the same week last year, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations. Trucking’s main fuel has risen 27.6 cents in the past nine weeks.
Gasoline, meanwhile, fell for the first time since late November, slipping 0.9 cent to $3.101 a gallon.
Gas had risen 25.4 cents in the eight weeks before Monday’s decline and is now 44 cents over the same week last year, DOE said.
After oil hit a two-month low on Thursday, crude prices spiked Friday on concerns over civil unrest in Egypt, topping $90 a barrel on Monday for the first time in almost two weeks, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures rose $2.85 to close the trading day Monday at $92.19 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement price since Oct. 3, 2008, Bloomberg said.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
