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U.S. retail diesel prices edged up a half-cent a gallon last week, continuing a nine-week string of increases and bringing the national average to $4.147 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported.

Even as U.S. diesel prices rose last week to the highest levels since 2008, the United States is continuing to export more of the fuel overseas, according to Department of Energy figures.

At least one major motor carrier said it had a truck fire related to a defect in Detroit Diesel engines that was the subject of a recent recall, but other fleets using the Detroit engines made by Daimler Trucks North America either didn’t comment or said they had not experienced problems.

Diesel prices continued to climb, as the national average price rose by 2.9 cents to $4.123 a gallon last week, according to the Department of Energy.

Diesel continued its uphill climb, rising 2.9 cents to $4.123 a gallon, its seventh straight gain and the ninth in 10 weeks, while gasoline also rose, the Department of Energy said.

Retail diesel prices advanced an additional 4.3 cents a gallon to a national average of $4.094 last week, a level not seen in 10 months, the U.S. Department of Energy reported.

The news from the oil patch just keeps getting worse and worse. As if $4-a-gallon diesel isn’t bad enough for the trucking industry, now comes a warning from the federal government that ultra-low-sulfur diesel may soon become scarcer and even more expensive in the Northeast because of a string of refinery closings.