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Retail diesel prices dipped 0.5 cent last week to $4.142 a gallon, interrupting a price advance that had raised the price of trucking’s main fuel nearly 30 cents over the previous nine weeks, the Department of Energy reported.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Truck and engine manufacturers at the Mid-America Trucking Show here declared natural gas the victor in the industry’s search for a practical alternative fuel to diesel, saying they could have three different types of natural-gas engines by 2013 and a nationwide network of 100 fueling stations that offer it by 2014.

U.S. retail diesel prices edged up a half-cent a gallon last week, continuing a nine-week string of increases and bringing the national average to $4.147 a gallon, the Department of Energy reported.

Even as U.S. diesel prices rose last week to the highest levels since 2008, the United States is continuing to export more of the fuel overseas, according to Department of Energy figures.

At least one major motor carrier said it had a truck fire related to a defect in Detroit Diesel engines that was the subject of a recent recall, but other fleets using the Detroit engines made by Daimler Trucks North America either didn’t comment or said they had not experienced problems.

Diesel prices continued to climb, as the national average price rose by 2.9 cents to $4.123 a gallon last week, according to the Department of Energy.

Diesel continued its uphill climb, rising 2.9 cents to $4.123 a gallon, its seventh straight gain and the ninth in 10 weeks, while gasoline also rose, the Department of Energy said.