Average Diesel Price Rises 0.5 Cent to $1.481

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

he average retail price of diesel fuel rose 0.5 cent to $1.481 per gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

This followed a decline of 1.5 cents in the average diesel price a week ago. Over the past eight weeks, commercial trucking's dominant fuel has remained between $1.481 and $1.502.

Diesel is 7.6 cents higher than the corresponding week a year earlier. DOE also said Monday the average price for regular unleaded gasoline fell 1.4 cents to $1.476 a gallon.

About one-third of commercial trucking uses gasoline. The decline was the 13th in the past 15 weeks. Meanwhile, the price of crude oil surged Monday after the season's first major snowfall in the Northeast boosted demand for heating oil.

Crude oil for January delivery rose $1.32 or 4.3% to $32.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

The average price of diesel rose in three of DOE's five major geographic regions, while it was unchanged in the Midwest was fell 0.7 cent to $1.528 in the Rocky Mountains.

Along the West Coast grouping of states, diesel rose 3 cents, while California reported a 3.5-cent spike in its average price.

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

10920