Diesel Starts Year With 3.7¢ Increase to $3.331 a Gallon
Diesel started the new year with a 3.7-cent increase to $3.331 a gallon, while gasoline gained 1.8 cents to $3.07, the Department of Energy reported.
The fifth straight increase for both fuels was also the fifth straight week in which they hit their highest levels since October 2008, according to DOE records.
Diesel is at its highest since the $3.482 of Oct. 20, 2008, while gas has not been as high since a week before that, when it registered $3.151. Both fuels hit record highs over $4 a gallon in the summer of 2008.
The gains were fueled by continuing high crude oil prices, with futures holding at more than $91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, about the same level as in October 2008, Bloomberg reported.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
