Diesel has risen more than $2.30 per gallon in less than two weeks as crude oil trades near $94
SAIPAN — Fuel prices at a Saipan Mobil station climbed again Friday night, with diesel topping $8 per gallon for the first time in recent memory and regular unleaded crossing $6.30, as crude oil futures hovered near $94 per barrel on global markets.
Extra grade gasoline rose to $6.369 per gallon, up 40 cents from the $5.969 price posted after Mobil’s last increase on March 9. Supreme+ reached $6.819, also up 40 cents. Diesel jumped 70 cents to $8.289, bringing the cumulative increase for that grade to more than $2.30 per gallon in less than two weeks.
NYMEX crude oil futures traded at $94.19 Friday morning in New York, down slightly from an overnight high of $96.77 per barrel. The global price surge is being driven in part by ongoing conflict in the Middle East affecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
The latest increases follow a series of rapid price hikes that have pushed diesel up from $5.989 on March 3 to its current level. Rep. Vincent Aldan cited rising global fuel costs this week in a public letter calling for a faster transition to renewable energy as an economic security strategy for the Commonwealth.
