Diesel Continues to Soar, Jumping 11.1 Cents to $2.765
he average price of a gallon of diesel fuel continued to soar, jumping 11.1 cents to $2.765 a gallon, the Energy Department said Monday.
Gasoline, meanwhile, continued its recent spikes, leaping a dime to $2.783 a gallon, DOE said.
Diesel reached its highest level since just a week after its all-time $3.157 record set Oct. 24 following last fall’s hurricanes; it was $2.876 on Oct. 31.
The two fuels have skyrocketed this year, with diesel rising 32.3 cents and gasoline soaring 54.5 cents a gallon from the Jan. 2 price through Monday, according to DOE figures.
Crude oil, meanwhile, set an all-time record closing price Monday of $70.40 a barrel, the first time oil has closed at more than $70 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. (Click here for related coverage.)
Diesel’s latest prices is 50.6 cents higher than a year ago and $1.04 higher than two years ago.
At a burn rate of 700 million gallons a week, that’s an added cost of about $350 million over last year to the trucking industry — and $728 million over the same week two years ago.
Gasoline is 54.6 higher than this time last year. At a trucking industry burn rate of 290 million gallons, that’s about an extra $158 million in costs. Gas is 97 cents higher than it was two years ago.
Diesel jumped in all of DOE’s regions, led by a 12.4-cent spike in the Gulf Coast region to $2.725. The West Coast, which gained 6.9 cents, remained the highest regional average, at $2.881.
California, which DOE breaks out separately from its regional averages, rose 5.2 cents to $2.933, the highest overall price.
The East Coast saw an 11.2-cent spike to $2.788. The Rocky Mountain region saw the smallest increase, at 7.6 cents to $2.756. The Midwest jumped 12.1 cents $2.735.
Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
