Overview
- U.S. retail diesel hit a record national average of about $6.50 per gallon, a level reported on Monday, Sept. 21, by AAA and echoed across multiple price trackers.
- Official data show U.S. distillate stocks at seasonal multi‑decade lows — about 107.9 million barrels as of Sept. 11 — and storage brokers say leasable tank availability is rising because there is little product to fill them.
- The squeeze is driven by overlapping shocks: the U.S.–Iran conflict that cut Strait of Hormuz flows, attacks that damaged Middle East export routes, Ukrainian strikes and Russian limits on diesel exports.
- Companies that rely on diesel are already feeling the pain as higher fuel costs cut transport and farm margins and pushed some transport stocks lower, and policymakers are weighing temporary tax cuts, reserve releases and export measures.
- Refiners are running near capacity and extra processing takes months to add, so analysts and the EIA project tight distillate supplies through most of 2027 unless major export routes or refinery output are restored.