Average price of diesel in Minnesota rises above $6 a gallon
Diesel prices in Minnesota jumped again Monday, now averaging more than $6 a gallon across the state amid the ongoing war in the Middle East.
AAA reported Monday’s average was just over $6.07 a gallon — a record high. It’s up more than 10 cents a gallon from Sunday, and an increase of 30 cents over the past week.
The average price of diesel in Minnesota is nearly $2.50 higher than the same time last year.
The national diesel average stood at $6.23 a gallon on Monday.
Meanwhile, AAA reported that gas prices in Minnesota were averaging about $4.23 on Monday. That was down less than a penny from Sunday — but it was more than 25 cents higher than a week ago.
A year ago, gas was averaging $3.04 a gallon in Minnesota.
Monday’s national average was $4.32.
Military conflict and attacks on oil infrastructure in the Middle East have driven up oil prices.
Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas transits in peacetime — in the opening days of the war with the U.S. and Israel. The Saudis have since used the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — which leads out of the Red Sea — as an alternate route for crude oil exports.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Monday that they seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, bolstering the Iranian-backed rebels’ ability to control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The Houthis’ newest takeover, following the seizure of the Red Sea port of Mokha and a strategic island last week, puts more pressure on Saudi shipments and, in turn, global oil supplies and prices.
