The national average price for gasoline increased 5.5 cents to $1.993 a gallon, the highest pump price ever in October, while diesel fuel set a record for the third straight week, the U.S. government said on Oct. 12, according to Reuters. The pump price for regular unleaded gasoline is up 43 cents from a year ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) nationwide survey of service stations. The latest weekly gasoline price is just 7 cents away from the record pump price of $2.06 a gallon reached in late May. The Energy Department’s analytical arm also said the price for diesel fuel increased 3.9 cents to a record $2.092 a gallon, up 61 cents from a year earlier. Higher crude oil prices that reflect supply concerns are pushing up pump costs, as oil accounts for about half the cost of making gasoline and diesel. About 471,000 barrels of U.S. oil production a day in the Gulf of Mexico is still off line because of damage to platforms and pipelines caused by Hurricane Ivan. The price for U.S. crude oil hit a record $54.45 a barrel in overnight trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange. The EIA’s weekly survey showed the retail price for cleaner-burning reformulated gasoline, sold in polluted metropolitan areas, increased 7.4 cents to $2.086 a gallon. The West Coast had the most expensive regular unleaded gasoline, with the price up 9.5 cents to $2.241 a gallon. San Francisco again topped the agency’s city survey of gasoline costs, with the price skyrocketing 14.7 cents to $2.371 a gallon. The U.S. Gulf Coast had the cheapest fuel, with the price up 4.7 cents to $1.885 per gallon. Houston had the best deal at the pump at $1.833 a gallon, up 3.4 cents. The weekly report also showed gasoline prices were up 3.2 cents to $2.053 in Seattle, up 6.2 cents to $2.034 in Chicago, up 3.6 cents to $2.024 in Miami, up 15 cents to $2.018 in Cleveland and up 4.6 cents to $1.991 in New York City. Separately, truckers on the West Coast paid the most for diesel fuel at $2.276 a gallon, up 3.8 cents from the prior week. The Gulf Coast states had the cheapest diesel at $2.033 a gallon, up 3.3 cents.