On September 3, the American Automobile Association reported the national average retail diesel price at $5.7832 per gallon, up from $5.6879 the previous day, $5.6183 a week ago, and $5.3639 a month ago, compared to $3.7047 a year ago; the association's record high was $5.8159 on June 19, 2022. Bloomberg noted that this figure has surpassed the early April peak during the Iran conflict, marking the highest since mid-2022, and is only about 3 cents away from the historical peak.

GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan, reported on the morning of September 2 that the national average diesel price reached $5.680, the highest since 2026 and the highest since July 7, 2022, just 13.9 cents away from the historical peak, and indicated that it could break records before Labor Day if the current trend continues. The weekly report has not yet confirmed that the organization has set $5.820 as the official historical high; real-time site averages may exceed the association's daily report. During the same period, the average price for regular gasoline was $4.1436. The spot price for ultra-low sulfur No. 2 diesel on the Gulf Coast was reported at $4.734 on September 1. The diesel crack spread has previously exceeded the record of $106 per barrel.

Supply-side reports in English point to ongoing restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, export limitations following Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries, and tight U.S. inventories and refining capacity. The White House recently convened refiners and distributors to request a reduction in pump prices. Freight, agriculture, and retail restocking directly consume diesel, with pump prices affecting freight and food costs.

Who is buying and who is selling: The event is driven by a contraction in refined oil supply, not a sudden increase in U.S. trucks. Buyers are carriers and agricultural machinery that must refuel weekly, while sellers are refineries with crack spreads at record levels. Beneficiaries are trading platforms holding middle distillate inventories, while pressured are trucking fleets and supermarket logistics with contracts not yet renegotiated. Funds flow from retail pump prices to refinery profits, then into inflation expectations, rather than immediately creating new crude oil capacity.

Source: Public information