Gasoline Jumps 2.2 Cents to $1.78; Diesel Rises to $1.648
he average price of gasoline rose 2.2 cents to set another record while the average retail national price of diesel fuel increased for the seventh time in the past eight weeks, the Department of Energy reported Monday.
A week after setting a new record, gasoline increased to $1.78, which was 15 cents higher than a year earlier. Trucking burns an average of 269 million gallons of gasoline each week.
Gasoline's has risen eight out of the past nine weeks, and has broken the previous record of $1.747 set in August, according to DOE figures.
Although the average diesel price fell slightly along DOE's East Coast grouping of states and in the Midwest, the national average was pulled up by a 6.8-cent spike along the West Coast to $1.885.
DOE also reported a 12.5-cent increase in the state of California to $2.014.
Meanwhile, the price of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange remained near $34.40 on Monday as skepticism grew that the OPEC oil cartel would lower production as much as promised at a meeting last week, Bloomberg reported.
Crude oil prices were up 20% from a year earlier, but have fallen about $4 over the past month.
Each week, DOE surveys 350 diesel-filling stations to compile a national snapshot price of diesel.