Average Price of Retail Diesel Rises 1.8 Cents to $1.952

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he U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday the average retail price for diesel fuel rose 1.8 cents a gallon to $1.952.

Diesel had declined 2.3 cents a week earlier and 5.3 cents in 2005. It was only the second weekly increase since diesel reached a record high of $2.212 on Oct. 25.

DOE said diesel was 39.3 cents higher than a year earlier. The trucking industry burns an estimated 650 million gallons of diesel each week.

DOE also said the average retail price for regular gasoline rose 2.6 cents to $1.819 a gallon. It was the second straight increase after nine weeks of declines. Trucking burns 290 million gallons of gasoline each week.

Also Tuesday, crude oil for February delivery was unchanged at $48.38 a

arrel at the close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported. Prices reached $49.50 during the session, the highest intraday price since Nov. 30.

Diesel rose in most of the United States, including a 3.2-cent increase in the Gulf Coast states to $1.908. However, the price was unchanged in the Rocky Mountain states at $1.877, the lowest in the nation.

And although the price of diesel rose in the East Coast, it actually dipped 0.6 cent in the Central Atlantic portion of that region.

Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel-filling stations to compile a national snapshot price. DOE did not release the number on Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

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