Average Diesel Price Jumps 1.6 Cents to $1.716

he average retail price for diesel fuel rose 1.5 cents to $1.716 per gallon, the Department of Energy said Tuesday, the first weekly increase since May 17.

Commercial trucking's main fuel was unchanged the previous week, which followed a five-week span when diesel declined 6.3 cents.

Diesel is 28.8 cents higher than a year earlier and only 5.5 cents below its record high set on March 10, 2003, just prior to the U.S. led invasion of Iraq.

DOE also said the average U.S. retail price for regular gasoline fell 2.6 cents to $1.895 a gallon.

The latest gasoline price was a two-month low and the sixth decline since a record $2.064 in late May.

The increase in the national average price of diesel was fueled by a 4.1-cent increase along DOE's West Coast grouping of states to $2.01 and a 1-cent rise along the East Coast to $1.698.

The Rocky Mountain region and New England portion of the East Coast were the only areas to report a decline in average diesel prices.

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

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