Average Diesel Price Rises to Record $2.212, DOE Says

he Department of Energy said Monday the average U.S. price for retail diesel fuel rose 3.2 cents to $2.212 per gallon.

Commercial trucking's dominant fuel set a record for a sixth consecutive week and has increased 34.3 cents in the past seven weeks alone.

It is 71.7 cents higher than a year earlier, meaning that trucking was paying an additional $466 million in diesel fuel costs -- based on retail prices -- than the same week in 2003.

DOE also said the average U.S. retail price for regular gasoline fell 0.3 cent to $2.032 a gallon.

The latest national gasoline average was down from a five-month high a week ago. Still, gasoline is up 10% over the past six weeks. The U.S. average climbed to a record $2.064 a gallon on May 24.

Also Monday, the price of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose to $55.67 a barrel, the highest since futures began trading in 1983, before closing the session at $54.54, Bloomberg reported.

Oil fell after Norway's government intervened to end a labor conflict that threatened output from the world's third-biggest oil exporter, Bloomberg said. Still, oil was 81% higher than a year earlier.

DOE said diesel continued rising throughout the nation, with the largest rise of 5.9 cents reported in the Rocky Mountain region. Its price was $2.278, which was 74.3 cents higher than a year earlier.

The smallest increase was in the Midwest, where the price was $2.185 after a 2.4-cent jump, DOE said.

Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel-filling stations to compile a national snapshot price.