Diesel Rises for Third Week, Gaining 8.2¢ to $2.879
Diesel and gasoline both rose for a third straight week, with diesel up 8.2 cents to $2.879 a gallon, the Department of Energy said Monday.
It was the highest national average price for trucking’s main fuel since Nov. 10, 2008, and left it 56.5 cents higher than the same week last year.
Monday’s rise was the biggest since a 9.6-cent spike on Oct. 26, and diesel has risen 15.3 cents in three weeks following an 8.2-cent decline over the previous seven.
Gasoline gained 8.6 cents to $2.751 a gallon, also the biggest increase since Oct. 26, when it jumped a dime.
Gas has risen 16.2 cents over the past three weeks and Monday’s price is the highest since $2.941 on Oct. 20, 2008
Diesel topped $3 a gallon in three sub-regions: New England ($3.068) and the Central Atlantic ($3.026) of the East Coast region, and California ($3.032), part of the West Coast region.
Oil closed above $83 a barrel last Wednesday for the first time in more than a year, though prices have since slipped to between $82 and $83 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.
Crude futures fell 22 cents Monday to close at $82.53 on the Nymex, Bloomberg reported.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
