Gasoline Prices Drop Sharply; Diesel Prices on Rise

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asoline prices continued to plummet but diesel prices set a new record high, according to new price surveys released Sunday and Monday.

U.S. regular gasoline pump prices plummeted 25 cents over the two weeks ended Friday to an average $2.66 a gallon, analyst Trilby Lundberg said in her semimonthly Lunbderg Survey of filling stations.

Meanwhile, diesel prices soared to a record $3.239 a gallon, up 5.5 cents over the past 10 days, AAA said Monday.

The gasoline price drop was due in part to refineries recovering from the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Lundberg Survey reported.

Gasoline imports rose 7.7% to an average 1.5 million barrels a day for the week ended Oct. 14, according to the Department of Energy, which is scheduled to release its weekly gasoline and diesel price survey Monday afternoon.

The highest price for self-serve regular gasoline was in Honolulu at $3.03 a gallon. The lowest was in Tulsa, Okla., at $2.20.