Diesel Average Price Jumps 7.4 Cents to $2.234

he average price of U.S. retail diesel fuel rose 7.4 cents to $2.234 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

The jump was the biggest single-week increase since an 9.8-cent rise Feb. 28, DOE figures showed.

The national gasoline average rose 1.9 cents to $2.116, DOE said. It was the first uptick in gasoline prices following seven weeks of declines from a record $2.28 a gallon April 11.

The diesel increase put trucking's main fuel at 50 cents over the same time last year, meaning the industry was spending $325 million than the same week last year. Trucking burns an estimated 650 million gallons of diesel every week.

The increase followed big jumps in oil prices last week. Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures hit a six-week high of $55.55 a barrel in intraday trading Monday before falling to close at $54.50 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

Crude oil had hit a record $58.28 a barrel April 4, which was followed by a record $2.316 a gallon for diesel and $2.28 for gasoline a week later.

Diesel prices rose in all five national regions, led by 9.6-cent and 8.7-cent spikes in the Gulf Coast and Midwest, respectively.

The West Coast region’s rise was the smallest, at 2.2 cents, though that region’s $2.339 was the highest regional price.

That price was topped by the East Coast’s New England sub-region, with a $2.353 average, and California, which DOE breaks out separately, with a $2.421 average. California’s price rose 5.4 cents in the past week.

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