Average Price of Diesel Rises 1 Cent

The average retail price of diesel fuel rose 1 cent to $1.432 per gallon, the first increase since March 10, the U.S. Department of Energy reported Monday.

Diesel, used by the majority of the commercial trucking, had declined a total of 34.9 cents over the past 13 weeks. Trucking burns an estimated 576 million gallons of diesel each week, meaning the 1-cent increase would cost the industry $5.76 million more at retail pumps.

Analyst Trilby Lundberg said last week that the price of diesel and gasoline was likely to begin increasing in the weeks ahead in response to a recent increase in the price of crude oil, the Associated Press reported.

The most recent diesel price is 15.7 cents higher than a year ago.

The national average increase was caused by a 9.7-cent increase along DOE's West Coast grouping of states. The West Coast's largest state, California, reported a price increase of 13.4 cents.

Diesel rose 1.4 cents in the Gulf Coast and 0.9 in the Rocky Mountain region, but declined in the East Coast and Midwest.

DOE also said Monday that the average retail price for regular gasoline rose 2.8 cents to $1.518, the second straight week the price has gone up.

Gasoline, used by about one-third of trucking, is down 12% from a record $1.728 in the week ended March 17, but up 10% from a year ago, according to DOE figures.

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

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