Diesel fuel prices moderated during the last week in October but remained 2 to 7 cents a gallon higher than they were a month ago.
The latest price survey by the Energy Information Agency pegged the average U.S. price of diesel at more than $1.49 a gallon during the last week of October. That's down about a penny a gallon from the week before but nearly 7 cents a gallon higher than at the end of September.
Compared to a year ago, the U.S. average price is about 4 cents a gallon higher.
The best place to buy diesel is in the Lower Atlantic states -- not the Gulf Coast, as usual -- where the average price was $1.43 per gallon during the most recent survey. The high-price leader was California, naturally, where the price averaged about $1.63 per gallon.
In other words, operators in Southern California are paying 20 cents a gallon more than operators in South Carolina.
The price survey was taken just before the wild fires in Southern California went super nova and began severely disrupting traffic, never a good situation for stable fuel prices.
Meanwhile, diesel prices in other regions of the U.S. remain above year ago levels, but the price spread varies widely. For example, in New England, the average price of diesel was nearly $1.59 a gallon, which is more than 9 cents a gallon higher than it was a year ago. On the Gulf Coast, the price averaged $1.44 a gallon, which is up 2.4 cents a gallon from last year.
Oil analysts say it's still too early to predict how high diesel fuel prices will climb this winter. Diesel inventories are plentiful but inventories of home heating oil are below five-year averages.
Diesel fuel is often used as an imperfect substitute for home heating oil when winter crunch comes.
Analysts also are keeping an eye on the natural gas market. If natural gas prices get too high it may encourage some industrial natural gas customers with the ability to switch to diesel fuel to do so.
The average U.S. price for gasoline in the most-recent survey was $1.54 a gallon, which is nearly 10 cents a gallon higher than a year ago.