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he national average retail price of diesel fuel moved up 0.8 cent to $2.89 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.
The uptick turned around two straight declines — of 0.6 cent last week and 3.2 cents two weeks ago — following seven straight increases, DOE figures showed.
Meanwhile, gasoline gained 2.5 cents, following a 2.5-cent decline last week, leaving it at to $2.892 a gallon, the same price it was two weeks ago.
Diesel is now 65.6 cents higher than a year ago, which would add about $130 to the cost of filling a trucker’s 200-gallon diesel tanks over the same week last year.
Crude oil prices have traded at more than $70 a barrel for most of the past two weeks and closed at $72.33 on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported.
DOE said the average diesel price rose in three of five national regions, dipping just 0.1 cent in the Rocky Mountains to $3.043 a gallon and 0.2 cent on the West Coast to $3.159.
It rose 1.3 cents in the Midwest to $2.837, by 0.7 cent in the Gulf Coast region to $.2805 and 0.8 cent on the East Coast to $2.881
Diesel was unchanged in California, which DOE breaks out separately, at $3.227.
Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.