Diesel Soars 14.6¢ to Record $3.303; Gas Jumps Over $3
Diesel fuel jumped to a new all-time high Monday, rising 14.6 cents over last week’s record price to $3.303 a gallon, the Department of Energy said.
The jump was the biggest since the record 34.6-cent single-week increase following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, when diesel jumped to a then-record $3.144 on Oct. 3, 2005.
Gasoline also spiked, rising 14.1 cents to $3.013 a gallon, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations. It was the first time since mid-July that gas was above the $3 level.
That gain was also the largest since the record 45.9-cent jump immediately following Katrina, when gas leaped 45.9 cents to a then-record $3.069 a gallon.
Gasoline’s all-time record was set earlier this year, when it topped out at $3.218 on May 21.
Last week’s 6.3-cent diesel increase to $3.157 matched a previous record that was set on Oct. 24, 2005, following the hurricanes. Coupled with that increase, diesel has gained 20.9 cents in two weeks.
Diesel jumped 19.4 cents over a three-week span earlier this year, finishing that run at $2.685 a gallon on March 21.
Monday’s price left trucking’s main fuel 79.7 cents over the same week last year, which would cost a trucker pumping 200 gallons about an additional $160 to fuel up.
Crude oil spiked to a new all-time high last week, closing at a record $95.93 a barrel on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg reported. Futures fell Monday to close at $94.54, Bloomberg said.
Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.
