Average Diesel Price Rises 1 Cent

he U.S. average retail price of diesel fuel rose 1 cent per gallon to $1.491 per gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

The price of commercial trucking's dominant fuel increased 0.5 cent the week before, which followed a three-week decline totaling 2.6 cents.

Diesel is 8.6 cents higher than the corresponding week a year earlier, DOE said.

About one-third of commercial trucking uses gasoline. The increase was only the second in the past 13 weeks.

Meanwhile, the price of crude oil in New York on Monday had its biggest decline in 12 weeks, Bloomberg reported.

Crude oil for January delivery fell $1.87 to $29.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

DOE said the price of diesel increased in each of its five main geographic regions.

The largest increase of 1.7 cents was reported along DOE's East Coast grouping of states. The Rocky Mountain region saw the smallest increase -- 0.1 cent to $154.1.

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