Diesel fuel prices all across the U.S. have taken a nasty turn in recent weeks but especially on the West Coast.
The average U.S. price of diesel fuel is more than 6 cents a gallon higher than it was a month ago and nearly 17 cents a gallon higher than it was a year ago. The average price near the end of August was almost $1.50 a gallon. Last year at this time, the price was just over $1.33 a gallon.
On the West Coast, the picture is even worse.
In California, the average price of diesel is more than $1.74 a gallon, which is up 10 cents a gallon in the past month and nearly a quarter a gallon higher than it was a year ago. It's also 24 cents a gallon higher than the U.S. average.
Up and down the West Coast, the average price of diesel fuel is $1.69 a gallon, which is almost 20 cents a gallon higher than the average U.S. price.
Gasoline prices are also soaring. The average retail price for regular gasoline has risen six times in the past seven weeks, reaching 162.7 cents per gallon, which is 23.5 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. Gasoline prices have risen 14 cents a gallon on average nationally since June 30.
On the West Coast, there was an enormous one-week gasoline price increase of 17.3 cents per gallon, sending gas to 188.7 cents per gallon.
The sharp price increases are the result of a whole series of factors.
No. 1, the world and domestic petroleum markets were hit by a number of jolts in August that, combined with strengthening demand, put pressure on prices.
World crude oil prices also have moved higher because of below-normal inventories and the continuing violence in Iraq, including the oil pipeline attack earlier this month and the bomb explosions in Baghdad. Particularly harmful to the U.S. has been a renewed oil production fall-off in Venezuela.
The U.S. gets 14 percent of its oil imports from Venezuela and production is declining again because of poor maintenance, insufficient investment and a shortage of skilled workers. Production is down an estimated 500,000 barrels a day, or more than 15 percent. The Venezuelan oil industry is still trying to recover from last year's debilitating strike.
In the U.S., the mid-August blackout in the Midwest and Northeast caused a momentary jolt to the market as many refineries were forced to shutdown. In California, refinery problems that have restricted supplies for more than a month continue.
Elsewhere, diesel fuel prices are rising in every corner of the U.S.
The Lower Atlantic states have the cheapest diesel fuel prices at 1.44 a gallon but even that is up a nickel a gallon from a month ago.
Diesel in New England, the Central Atlantic states and the Rocky Mountains remain above the U.S. average.
Each week, the U.S. Department of Energy surveys 350 diesel-filling stations to compile a national snapshot price of diesel and gasoline.