Diesel Tops $2.40, Gasoline Jumps Above $2.30 in New Records
iesel fuel and gasoline both jumped to new retail price records Monday, with diesel climbing 6 cents to $2.408 a gallon and gasoline leaping 10.2 cents to $2.328, the Department of Energy reported Monday.
Diesel's record high was its third consecutive all-time price peak, while gasoline's topped the $2.28 per gallon record set April 11, DOE said.
The diesel increase follows successive records of $2.336 and $2.348 set the previous two weeks. Before that the record high price had been $2.316 a gallon, also set April 11.
That followed the highest Nymex closing price ever of $61.28, set on Wednesday.
Crude oil prices fell Monday in part due to Hurricane Dennis largely missing Gulf of Mexico oil platforms over the weekend, dropping 71 cents to close at $58.92, Bloomberg reported.
Analyst Trilby Lundberg reported Sunday that gasoline prices had climbed 9 cents over the past two weeks, with regular self-serve reaching a record $2.31 a gallon, due in part to soaring crude oil prices and continued high demand.
DOE reported that diesel prices leaped in every area of the country, led by an 8-cent jump in the Rocky Mountain region to $2.408 a gallon, the same price as the national average.
The East Coast region rose 5.7 cents to $2.427, the Midwest increased 5.6 cents to $2.384, the Gulf Coast climbed 6.5 cents to $2.355 and the West Coast rose 5.9 cents to $2.526.
In California, which DOE breaks out separately, the average price rose 3.5 cents to $2.589 a gallon, higher than all five of the regional averages.
