Benchmark diesel price up for third week as oil futures markets soar again

The 4.1-cent-per-gallon rise in the average benchmark retail diesel price posted Monday may be just the start of bigger increases in the coming weeks. 

The weekly Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration price climbed that amount to $3.602 a gallon. It’s the highest price since October and the third consecutive week of an increase.

After weeks of mostly downward drift, several factors have seen oil turn around sharply.

Monday’s ultra low sulfur diesel price settlement of $2.5333 a gallon on the CME commodity exchange is its highest since July 7, when it settled at $2.5236. Since a recent low of $2.058 a gallon on Sept. 10, the price of ULSD has risen 46.56 cents through Monday’s settlement.

But more striking is what the price has done recently. ULSD settled Thursday at $2.3507 a gallon, which means the price rose 18.26 cents in just three trading days. Most of those gains came Friday and Monday after the release of new sanctions on Russian shipments of oil.

The most recent bullish spur has been the decision by the Biden administration, along with the United Kingdom, to impose those sanctions on Russian shipping of oil on top of what already was in place, though the impact of those first sanctions is gener…

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