U.S. Diesel Average Up, Led by Jump in Calif.

The price of diesel fuel climbed to new heights last week, amid a frenzy of protests, threatened protests, proposals, counterproposals, promises and caveats.

	Fuel Prices
	Week of Mar. 13:
	source	price		change
	DOE	149.6		+0.6
	Comdata*	146.9		+2.6
	OPIS self-serve*	148.2		+2.4
	OPIS wholesale*	93.3		+0.7
	*Comdata and OPIS figures are for the week of Mar. 4-10. Click here for more fuel prices.
		More coverage on Truckline

But, while users of diesel fuel hope to benefit from the overall furor, it was the sudden run-up of gasoline prices, to an average of $1.566 for regular, according to the federal government’s weekly survey, that grabbed most of the news headlines and governmental attention.

The gasoline price is, on average, 55 cents a gallon higher than it was in March 1999.

Last week, the national average retail price of diesel fuel, as reported by the Energy Information Administration, was $1.496, up 0.6 cent from the previous record high of $1.49, set a week earlier.

For the full story, see the Mar. 20 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.