(The following story by Thomas L. Gallagher appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on January 5, 2010.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Retail diesel prices surged last week across the country, soaring an average of 6.5 cents to $2.797 per gallon, less than a penny off the highest level in more than a year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The highest national average price in 2009 was $2.808 per gallon in the week ending Nov. 2, 2009.
U.S. retail gasoline prices also jumped 5.8 cents to $2.67 a gallon last week, EIA said. High demand for heating oil in the Northeast drove the cost of crude oil up, and diesel and gasoline prices followed. Colder-than-normal weather in the Northeast boosted heating oil prices 19 cents to $2.94 per gallon in Rhode Island. Crude oil futures neared a 14-month high Tuesday in the ninth straight day of increasing prices. Light, sweet crude for February delivery traded recently at $81.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, just one cent short of last year’s intraday high of $82 a barrel.
The highest prices for diesel last week were on the West Coast. In California, drivers paid $2.959 per gallon; in the region as a whole, prices were up 6.7 cents from last week to $2.908 per gallon.
The biggest change was an increase of 7.8 cents from last week to $2.827 on the East Coast. The lowest prices and the smallest change were in the Rocky Mountains, where diesel sold for $2.746, up 1.8 cents from last week.