Diesel Adds to Record High With a 1.1-Cent Rise

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he average price of retail diesel fuel rose 1.1 cents to $1.825 per gallon, the third straight week it has set a new record high, the Department of Energy said Monday.

The most recent increase followed a jump of 3.4 cents the week before. Diesel has now risen five straight weeks, and by 12.5 cents since June 28.

Trucking burns an estimated 650 million gallons of diesel fuel each week, meaning the industry is paying more than $81 million in additional diesel fuel costs than in the last week of June, based on retail prices.

It is 32.7 cents higher than a year earlier, according to DOE figures. Prior to this recent run-up, the record was $1.771, set on March 10, 2003, just prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

DOE also said Monday the average retail price for regular gasoline dropped 0.2 cent to $1.875 a gallon.

Also Monday, the price of crude oil for September delivery fell 50 cents to $46.08 a barrel at the close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported. Prices rose as high as $46.91, the highest since oil began trading in New York in 1983.

Gas prices have fallen from records in late May as higher gasoline imports and domestic refinery production boosted U.S. fuel reserves to normal levels, Bloomberg reported.

However, the latest retail average was still up 39.7 cents from the start of 2004.

DOE said the price of diesel rose everywhere except its West Coast grouping of states, where it declined 0.1 cent to $2.029. Prices were unchanged in the West Coast's largest state of California, but remained the most expensive in the nation at $2.113.

The New England portion of the East Coast saw the steepest increase last week -- 2.1 cents to $1.91. And despite an increase of 0.5 cent, the Lower Atlantic had the cheapest average diesel price at $1.763.

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