Diesel fuel prices are up slightly from last week, to $2.231 national average, but that's less than half where they were a year ago.


Weekly figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show that the $2.231 national average is 1.5 cents higher than last week but $2.266 less than a year ago.

The highest average was seen in the New England region, at $2.401, followed closely by the Central Atlantic region at $2.396. The cheapest average prices were reported in the Midwest, at $2.17.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices rose nearly 5 percent Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $59.03 per barrel, the highest since Nov. 11. The jump was believed due to concern about supplies, raised by violence in oil-exporting country Nigeria as well as a fire at a Sunoco oil refinery in Pennsylvania.