U.S. 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.
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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.