Diesel Price Rises 2.6 Cents to Record $1.78
he national average retail price for diesel fuel rose 2.6 cents to a record $1.78 per gallon, the U.S. Department of Energy said Monday.
In related news, the price of crude oil futures rose to a record in New York while the price of gasoline declined to a three-month low.
The previous record for diesel fuel was $1.771, set on March 10, 2003, just prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The increase followed a 1-cent jump the week before. Diesel has risen 8 cents since June 28 and is 32.7 cents higher than a year earlier. The 2.6-cent rise would cost truckers an extra $5.20 on a 200-gallon purchase of diesel at retail pumps. The industry burns more than 600 million gallons of diesel fuel each week, according to industry figures.
Meanwhile, crude oil for September delivery rose to $44.24 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading early Tuesday morning on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest intraday price since futures trading began in New York in 1983, Bloomberg said.
Oil then declined to close at $44.15 a barrel on Tuesday afternoon, the highest-ever closing price. Oil was 36% higher than a year earlier, Bloomberg said.
DOE also said Monday the average retail price for regular gasoline fell 1.7 cents to $1.888 a gallon, the lowest since May 3. However, prices were still up 41 cents, or 28%, over a year ago.
The nationwide average price of gasoline is down 8.5% from a record $2.064 on May 24.
The price of diesel rose throughout the entire nation, DOE said, with the largest rise of 3.1 cents reported in the Gulf Coast grouping of states. The Gulf's price of $1.722 was the cheapest in the nation, with the exception of the Lower Atlantic portion of the East Coast.
DOE also said a 0.8-cent increase in California left its price at $2.115, 42 cents higher than a year earlier and highest in the nation.
Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel-filling stations to compile a national snapshot price.
11747
