The national average retail price of a gallon of diesel set another record for the week ending April 4, up more than a nickel from the previous week’s record price, to $2.303.
The new average price was 65 cents more than the average a year ago.
The average price was up in every region tracked by the U.S. Department of Energy and was up more than a nickel in every region except the Lower Atlantic and the Rocky Mountains.
On average, diesel was most expensive on the West Coast at $2.541 a gallon and least expensive on the Gulf Coast at $2.240 a gallon.
In general, high oil prices are most directly to blame for high diesel prices. At one point in the trading day Monday, April 4, before it dipped a bit, crude oil was selling for $58.28 a barrel. As recently as 2002, oil sold for $24 a barrel.
Those high oil prices are prompted in part by a growing sense that the world’s increasing demand for oil — especially in the United States, China and India — may one day exceed the world’s supply. Oil production is falling in 33 of the top 48 oil-producing countries, including more than half the OPEC member nations.
For state-by-state diesel prices, updated daily, visit http://www.etrucker.com/apps/promiles/fuelprices.asp.
