Average Diesel Price Surges 4.8 Cents to $1.551, DOE Says

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he U.S. Department of Energy said Monday the average retail price of diesel fuel rose 4.8 cents per gallon to $1.551.

Diesel is now at the highest level since $1.554 on April 7, and is 7.3 cents ahead of the corresponding week a year ago. The 4.8-cent increase was the largest weekly spike since a jump of 12 cents on Feb. 10, according to DOE figures.

The most recent increase would cost a trucker an additional $9.60 on a 200-gallon diesel purchase at retail pumps.

Analyst Trilby Lundberg said rising crude oil prices, a weaker U.S. dollar and colder weather all played a role in a recent increase in diesel and gasoline prices, the Associated Press reported.

DOE also said Monday the average U.S. retail price for regular gasoline rose 5 cents to a 12-week high of $1.56 a gallon, the government said.

Retail prices have increased in three of the past four weeks, rebounding from an 11-month low in mid-December, as refiners and fuel distributors passed along higher crude-oil costs, Bloomberg said.

DOE said the East Coast's grouping of states and the Gulf Coast each saw its average diesel price increase more than 6 cents.

Prices were a bit more stable in the Rocky Mountains and the West Coast, where prices rose 0.8 cent 1.3 cents, respectively.

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