U.S. diesel fuel prices topped $5 per gallon, according to GasBuddy, which has only happened once before, Reuters noted in a report, citing the GasBuddy data.
The price tracker earlier in the week reported that the national average price for diesel had reached $4.951 per gallon last week, up by $0.34, while gasoline prices had gone up to $3.68 per gallon on average, $0.232 higher than they were over the previous week.
“Consumers continue to feel the sting of rising oil, gasoline, and diesel costs as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East remain elevated, pushing gasoline prices to their highest levels in years while diesel could soon approach the $5-per-gallon mark nationally,” GasBuddy’s Patrick DeHaan said earlier on Monday, before diesel hit $5 per gallon.
President Trump said recently that the fallout of the Hormuz crisis is actually good for the United States because the country is the biggest oil producer in the world, “so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money”. Alas, oil is an internationally traded commodity, and a surge in prices in one part of the world leads to a surge everywhere else, as supply tightens globally, hurting American consumers as well as Asian ones, albeit to a different degree.
CNN noted that gasoline prices in the U.S. are currently sitting at the highest since October 2023, adding that over the past month, they have gained 26.9%, which is the highest monthly jump since Hurricane Katrina.
Meanwhile, it seems prices have further to go as President Trump asked the U.S. NATO allies for help reopening the Strait of Hormuz and when they all demonstrated reluctance to do so, he proceeded to express his frustration with these partners. “We strongly encourage other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm,” Trump said Monday. Since such enthusiasm was found to be lacking, Trump proceeded to berate NATO allies for benefiting from “tens of billions of dollars” for protection from the U.S. and now failing to respond to a request for help.
“We lack the mandate from the United Nations, the European Union or NATO required under the Basic Law,” Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said by way of explanation for the reluctance, adding that the United States and Israel had not consulted Berlin before they started the war.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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