Eastern Diesel Prices Ease Slightly

Sky-high diesel prices along the Eastern Seaboard eased a little last week, as the national average price retreated slightly from the 10-year high set the week before. But Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions were not so fortunate, as fuel costs there increased for the sixth week in a row.

	Fuel Prices
	Week of Feb. 14:
	source	price		change
	DOE	145.6		-1.4
	Comdata*	146.0		+3.8
	OPIS self-serve*	147.0		+3.7
	OPIS wholesale*	91.3		+2.2
	*Comdata and OPIS figures are from week of Feb. 7. Click here for more fuel prices.
		More coverage on Truckline

The short reprieve didn’t stop independent drivers from picketing outside the statehouse in Augusta, Maine, and conducting a Valentine’s Day strike at several freight terminals in the Philadelphia area and elsewhere. Nor did it prevent analysts from predicting a continuing oil crunch as petroleum hit $30 a barrel for the first time since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Nationally, the average price for diesel was down for the first time in four weeks, dropping 1.4 cents to $1.456 a gallon on Feb. 14, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The Feb. 7 figure of $1.47 was the highest in more than a decade.

New England continued to lead the nation with a regional average of $1.93 a gallon, a decline from $2.122 the week before. Prices spiked higher in the nation’s heartland, up 1.2 cents to $1.418 in the Midwest and up 0.5 cent to $1.398 in the Rockies.

For the full story, see the Feb. 21 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.