Diesel Leaps 14.3¢ to $3.716 a Gallon; Gasoline Spikes 19.4¢ to $3.383
Diesel jumped 14.3 cents to $3.716 a gallon, its 13th straight weekly gain, while gasoline soared 19.4 cents to $3.383, the Department of Energy said Monday.
The diesel increase — the biggest since a 14.6-cent spike on June 8, 2009 — leaves trucking’s mail fuel 85.5 cents over the same week last year, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations.
Diesel is its highest level since October 2008 when it was in retreat from its record high of $4.764 a gallon, set on July 14, 2008.
Gas is now 68.1 cents over the same week a year ago and also at its highest level since October 2008. Its jump was the highest since its record 45.9-cent spike on Sept. 5, 2005, following Hurricane Katrina’s landfall near New Orleans.
Monday’s gas increase was the 12th in the past 13 weeks. Gasoline’s record high was $4.114 a gallon, set on July 7, 2008.
Oil prices have spiked in the past week, touching $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in intraday trading last week for the first time in more than two years on concerns about Middle East political upheaval.
Crude futures slipped 91 cents to finish the day Monday at $96.97 a barrel on the Nymex, Bloomberg reported.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
