Average Diesel Price Rises Another 0.5 Cent to $1.486

or the second consecutive week, the average retail price of diesel fuel in the United States rose 0.5 cent per gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

The latest increase pushed the price of commercial trucking's dominant fuel to $1.486. The 1-cent increase over the prior two weeks would cost truckers an extra $2 on a 200-gallon purchase at a retail pump.

Diesel is 8.5 cents ahead of the same week a year earlier, according to DOE figures.

About one-third of commercial trucking uses gasoline.

Meanwhile, the price of crude oil in New York rose to a four-week high on speculation Saddam Hussein's capture will not lead to an immediate increase in shipments from Iraq, Bloomberg reported.

Crude oil for January delivery rose to $33.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.

Although the average price of diesel decreased 0.2 cent in the Rocky Mountains, it increased in DOE's four other main geographic regions. The price rose 0.4 cent along the West Coast grouping of states to $1.639, despite a dip of 0.4 cent in its largest state of California.

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

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