An analyst with a prominent international energy consulting firm has called the current crude oil market "unstable."

"I've been doing this for 22 years and I've never seen anything like this. I view this as a very unstable situation," oil analyst Ken Miller of Purvin & Gertz in Houston told the Associated Press Monday.
Crude oil prices crossed $58 a barrel Monday before falling back to $57 on the New York Mercantile Exchance. Crude oil prices have risen $15 a barrel since the beginning of the year. According to AP, energy traders attribute the increases to a limited global supply cushion, growing demand in the U.S. and China and the weakness of the U.S. dollar, among other factors. The U.S. Energy Department's weekly report on diesel prices Monday said the price of diesel at the pump averaged $2.303 per gallon nationally, up 65 cents from one year ago. The highest average price was in the western states as usual at $2.54 per gallon.