For the first time in New York City, diesel fuel broke the $5-a-gallon mark and regular gas hit a $4 high yesterday as crude oil shot to its seventh straight record.
Overnight surges in gas-pump prices in the boroughs – some places by as much as a dime – made the chance of a gallon of gas hitting the $5 range by Memorial Day weekend more plausible.
Crude neared $120 a barrel here, trading at $119.90 before settling at a record close of $119.37 a barrel, up $1.89.
Analysts blame speculators for driving up crude prices as a hedge against the sliding dollar. The greenback fell to a new low against the euro, trading at $1.60, helping push crude higher.
Analysts say gas-pump prices are soaring because refineries are holding back production, a strategy to boost prices and repair refineries’ thinnest profit margins in years.
Wholesale gasoline jumped here 3.73 cents to a record $3.025 a gallon, its first close above $3. Diesel/heating oil inched up a half-cent to $3.3168 a gallon.
Diesel fuel hit a New York City high at $5.10 a gallon at an Exxon station in Rego Park, Queens.
Regular gasoline was selling for $4 a gallon for the first time here at pumps at two stations in Bayside, Queens, and one in Annadale, SI.