For the second consecutive week, the national average retail price of a gallon of diesel took a giant leap, this time jumping 5.4 cents to $3.069 for the week ending Monday, April 12. The price, which has increased 31.3 cents since Feb. 15, is 84.0 cents higher than the same week last year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This week’s price is the highest since Nov. 3, 2008, when it was $3.088.
All regions tracked by the DOE saw price increases. The biggest increase, 7.4 cents, was found on the West Coast, where prices climbed to $3.187, making it the nation’s most expensive diesel by region. The smallest increase, 3.2 cents, was found in New England, where prices climbed to $3.086. The nation’s least expensive diesel by region, $3.023, was found on the Gulf Coast, where prices climbed 4.5 cents.
California, which the DOE tracks separately for its weekly update, saw a price increase of 7.4 cents to $3.221; that price is 87.1 cents higher than the same week last year.
DOE’s monthly short-term energy outlook projects that diesel will average $2.95 this year and $3.12 in 2011; last year, diesel averaged $2.46 a gallon. Oil averaged $81 a barrel in March, almost $5 higher than the previous month; the DOE forecasts crude to average above $81 a barrel this summer, just under $81 for the year, and then increase to $85 by the fourth quarter of 2011.
