Diesel Continues Upward Track, Rising 2.8 Cents to $2.918

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

he national average price of diesel fuel rose 2.8 cents to $2.918 a gallon, the Department of Energy said Monday.

Gasoline, meanwhile, gained 1.4 cents, following a 2.5-cent gain last week, leaving it at to $2.906 a gallon.

The diesel increase came after a 0.8-cent uptick last week, which had followed declines of 0.6 cent three weeks ago and 3.2 cents four weeks ago.

But despite the recent fluctuations, diesel’s track this year has been up — it has gained in nine of the past 11 weeks and in 15 of 22 weeks since the start of the year, DOE figures showed.

The price has gone up 47.6 cents since the first week of the year, and diesel is now 64.2 cents higher than this time last year.

With the trucking industry burning 700 million gallons of diesel a week, costs this week are about $450 million higher than the same week last year.

iesel dropped by a penny on the West Coast to $3.149, the highest regional price, and by 0.2 cent in the Rocky Mountains to $3.041.

It also dropped by a penny in California to an even more expensive $3.217 a gallon, the highest overall price. DOE breaks out California separately from its five regions.

The price rose in all other regions, led by a 4.3-cent gain in the Gulf Coast region to $2.848, a 3.7-cent increase in the Midwest to $2.874 and a 2.8-cent rise in the East Coast region to $2.909

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