Ten-Cent Jump Pushes Diesel Price Over $2 for First Time

he average retail price of diesel fuel in the United States rose 10 cents per gallon to $2.012, the first time the national average has risen above $2, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

Diesel, which has risen three straight weeks, has increased 31.2 cents since the end of June and is 58.3 cents higher than a year earlier. The trucking industry burns an estimated 650 million gallons of diesel fuel each week.

The 10-cent spike was the second-largest weekly jump in diesel since DOE began tracking the price in 1994. On Feb. 10, 2003, DOE said the average price rose 12 cents to $166.2 from $154.2 ahead of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Gasoline is 32.6 cents higher than a year earlier. Trucking uses about 290 million gallons of gasoline each week.

Analyst Trilby Lundberg said the recent increase in the price of gasoline was due mainly to crude oil supply disruptions related to Hurricane Ivan, the Associated Press reported.

The price of diesel rose more than 6 cents throughout the entire nation, including 11.9 cents in the Central Atlantic state to $2.092. Diesel rose 8.4 cents in California to $2.236, the highest price in the nation.

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