The pump price of diesel has reached a record high for the third week in a row.
The national average retail price of a gallon of diesel increased 6 cents, to $2.408, for the week ending July 11. That’s a 66-cent increase from the same week of 2004.
The record price set April 11 of this year, $2.316, is beginning to look like a bargain, as the current price is 9 cents higher.
Moreover, the traditional summertime escalation of the price of gasoline over the price of diesel – thanks to heavy gasoline demand by vacationers and negligible demand for heating oil – has not happened this year. Many analysts believe it is unlikely to happen at all, partially because of the increasing demand for diesel in that new industrial behemoth, China.
For the week ending July 11, the average diesel price increased in all regions tracked by the U.S. Department of Energy. The largest increase, 8 cents, was in the Rocky Mountains; the smallest, 4 cents, was in New England.
New England truckers, however, suffered the highest average diesel price at $2.533. The lowest was on the Gulf Coast at $2.355.
For state-by-state diesel prices, updated daily, visit http://www.etrucker.com/apps/promiles/fuelprices.asp.
