Diesel Hits 18-Month High, Rising 4.4¢ to $3.122

Gas Gains Almost a Nickel, to $2.898 a Gallon

Diesel rose to its highest level in more a year and a half, gaining 4.4 cents to $3.122 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported Monday.

The 10th increase in 11 weeks was the highest price since Oct. 27, 2008, when it was at $3.288 in a downward retreat from that year’s record highs.

The latest price left trucking’s main fuel 93.7 cents over the same week last year, DOE said following its weekly survey of filling stations.

Gasoline, meanwhile, rose 4.9 cents to $2.898 a gallon, following last week’s dip that was in contrast to diesel’s trend for the first time in 10 weeks.

Gas has gained 29 cents in nine increases over 11 weeks, and Monday’s price left it 82 cents higher than the same week last year.

Diesel has jumped 36.6 cents since its most recent upward trend began 11 weeks ago in mid-February, pausing only once for a 0.7-cent drop in late March.

Monday’s diesel increase was the biggest in four weeks, since a 5.4-cent gain on April 12.

The fuels’ upward trends have mirrored higher oil prices, which have risen to near an 18-month high at more than $86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude futures rose 4 cents Monday to finish the trading day at $86.19 a barrel on the Nymex, Bloomberg reported.

Each week, DOE surveys about 350 diesel filling stations to compile a national snapshot average price.

A Pakistani-American admitted trying to detonate a bomb in New York’s busy Times Square and receiving bomb-making training in a known Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold in Pakistan, U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Prosecutors charged Faisal Shahzad, 30, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, with five counts, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and trying to kill and maim people within the United States.

“If successful it could have resulted in a lethal terrorist attack, causing death and destruction in the heart of New York City, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said of the bomb plot.

Shahzad was arrested late on Monday after he was taken off an Emirates plane that was about to depart for Dubai. Hours later, several of his relatives were arrested in Pakistan, security sources said.

Prosecutors have not said when Shahzad will appear before a judge in Manhattan federal court. He faces a life sentence if he is convicted.