Diesel climbs for third straight week, while regular falls again

U.S. on-highway diesel averaged $6.352 a gallon in the week ending Oct. 26, according to the Energy Information Administration, up 7.6 cents from the prior week and the third consecutive weekly increase.

Diesel has gained more than 17 cents since Oct. 12, and the national average now sits $2.63 above where it was a year ago and nearly $2.78 above two years ago.

Regular gasoline moved the other way, slipping 1.5 cents to $4.269. That leaves diesel about $2.08 a gallon more expensive than gas at the pump, a spread produce shippers and carriers will feel in every fuel surcharge.

California remains the outlier. Diesel there averaged $8.155, the only state or region in EIA’s diesel survey above $8, even after easing 8.7 cents on the week. The broader West Coast region dipped 6.5 cents to $7.329. But California diesel still costs $3.22 more than it did a year ago, the steepest annual increase of any area EIA tracks.

The sharpest weekly gains came east of the Rockies. The Lower Atlantic region, which includes Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, rose 15 cents to $5.890; it’s still the cheapest diesel in the country, but the gap is narrowing heading into Florida’s fall and winter vegetable season.

The Midwest climbed 12.8 cents to $6.480, and the Rocky Mountain region added nearly a dime to reach $6.521, now the priciest diesel outside the West Coast.

Gulf Coast diesel rose a more modest 4.8 cents to $5.951. Prices in the Northeast eased, with New England down 4.9 cents to $6.421 and the Central Atlantic down 1.2 cents to $6.496.

On the gasoline side, the Midwest also saw the biggest move, with regular jumping 12.4 cents. Ohio led all states surveyed with a 33-cent increase to $4.380, and Chicago reached $4.897. West Coast gas fell 14 cents, though California regular still averages $5.888.

EIA’s next update is scheduled for Nov. 3.