The national average price-per- gallon for diesel fuel reached $2.180 Oct.18, compared with 2.092 on Oct. 11, the U.S. Energy Information Service reported.

For a third week in a row – a historic first – prices in all regions remained above the $2 mark.

The highest prices in the nation continue to be in California, where the price currently averages $2.394 per gallon, and in the West Coast region, where the price stands at $2.337.

Meanwhile, in New England, the average price is $2.290; in the Central Atlantic, the price is $2.267; on the East Coast, the price is $2.179; it’s $2.131 in the Lower Atlantic states; $2.161 in the Midwest; $2.115 in the Gulf Coast states; and $2.219 in the Rocky Mountain states.

Analysts say world crude prices were up again by week’s end following the explosion of an oil pipeline operated by the government-run Pemex agency in Mexico, that spurred worries about the adequacy of petroleum stocks as the northern hemisphere heads into its winter heating season.

Another situation affecting oil prices is a four-day-old oil field workers' strike in Nigeria, the largest oil-producing nation in Africa, The Associated Press reported.

However, the president of the oil producers’ cartel OPEC said heavy demand – not supply problems – is pushing prices higher. OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro, the oil minister of Indonesia, said “Oil prices will continue to rise through the end of October because demand is robust.”