The average U.S. diesel price hit a record high late on Thursday, exceeding the previous record from 2022, as the Middle East crisis tightened global fuel markets and sent prices soaring this summer.
As of Thursday afternoon, the live U.S. national average price of diesel set a new record at $5.820 per gallon, according to GasBuddy data.
This average price has now surpassed the previous daily $5.819 per gallon all-time high that occurred June 17, 2022, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said.
Record-high diesel prices are a major concern, including for the U.S. economy and the interest rate path of the Fed, as diesel is essential for economic growth and inflation in the price of goods.
Moreover, diesel demand is further set to grow in the coming weeks and months with the harvest season for the farmers and the holiday season for retailers, who will need to haul more goods with trucks to stock up for the holidays.
Diesel markets in the United States and globally have severely tightened in recent weeks, amid crippled fuel supply from the Middle East and Russia, due to the Iran and Ukraine wars, rising seasonal demand with the harvest season, and insufficient capacity elsewhere to compensate for the lost diesel flows from the Strait of Hormuz and Russia.
The re-escalation in the Middle East and the Russian ban on diesel exports amid incessant Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries pushed middle distillate cracks to record highs this week.
U.S. diesel prices have been rallying this week, and now they have hit an all-time high, which analysts, including GasBuddy, expected to occur before Labor Day.
Meanwhile, the national average price of gasoline at $4.125 per gallon, per GasBuddy live data, is now 92 cents above Labor Day 2025 and on track for the most expensive gasoline price in nominal terms for a Labor Day weekend ever. This Labor Day weekend will cost Americans about $1.39 billion more on gasoline spending compared to last year, GasBuddy’s De Haan said.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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