Credit: U.S. DOE

Credit: U.S. DOE

The long ride of falling diesel prices has ended with the fuel posting its first weekly increase since late June, according to new U.S. Energy Department figures.

The national average for on-highway diesel is up 5.4 cents this week, hitting $3.677 per gallon, but is still 15.5 cents lower than it was during the same time last year. So far this year the highest average overall U.S. price for diesel is $4.021, hit in March.

The reason for the overall gain is a price hike of 16.4 cents over the past week in the Midwest and a 8.3 cents jump in the Rocky Mountain region. Diesel increased far less in the Gulf Coast region, adding just 3 cents, along with a 0.8 cent gain in the West Coast region, minus California. All other parts of the U.S. saw weekly price declines.

Despite these regional weekly increases diesel prices in all the different parts of the country are still lower than a year earlier.

Diesel ranges from a low of $3.497 in the Lower Atlantic states, down 3.6 cents from a week ago, to a high of $3.796 in the Rocky Mountain region.

This happened as the average price for regular-grade gasoline posted its sixth straight weekly price decline, shedding 5.2 cents from last week, for an average of $2.941 per gallon. Compared to the same time a year ago the price is 25.3 cents less.

Gasoline prices fell in all regions of the country and range from a low of $2.723 in the Gulf Coast region to a high of $3.168 in the West Coast region.

Meantime, the price of oil keeps moving lower, meaning the fuel price increases could be short lived, with Brent North Sea Crude hitting a four-year low settlement price of $82.34 in Europe on Monday while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell to $77.40 in New York.

The declines came as oil tried to rally earlier in the day on news of renewed fighting between Ukraine and Russia and positive economic news from China. However, prices fell following news that the OPEC oil cartel would leave crude production unchanged rather than reducing it to try and stop recent price declines.

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Evan Lockridge

Evan Lockridge

Former Business Contributing Editor

Trucking journalist since 1990, in the news business since early ‘80s.

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