Diesel Prices End Decline, Grow 3.3 Cents

The nation’s average retail diesel price climbed 3.3 cents last week to $2.961 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

After a five-week fall that brought diesel prices down from $3.127 per gallon on May 10 to $2.928 per gallon early last week, this week’s surge reflects growing concern about supplies as well as a seasonal up-tick at the beginning of summer.

U.S. Diesel Prices: Find more information at By The Numbers.

Diesel is now 94.4 cents above its low point of $2.017 in March 2009, reached after the steep drop from a historic high of $4.764 per gallon on July 14, 2008.

Prices actually fell nine-tenths of a cent in the Rocky Mountains to $2.98 per gallon, but that was the only decline this week.

The lowest average price was on the Gulf Coast, where an increase of 3.4 cents, one of the steepest rises in the country, had drivers paying $2.908 per gallon.

In California, the price shot up 5.7 cents to $3.125 per gallon. In the West Coast region as a whole, prices rose 3.9 cents to an average of $3.093 per gallon.

-- Contact Thomas L. Gallagher at tgallagher@joc.com.