Filling up with diesel in US has never been more expensive

Diesel prices are surging to the highest level on record as the global fuel-supply shortage hits American truckers, farmers and users in just about every sector of the U.S. economy.

Retail diesel averaged $5.18 a gallon on Thursday, the highest in records going back to 2005, according to auto club AAA. Prices jumped in recent days amid record futures contracts and decades-low stockpiles, further squeezing consumers dealing with decades-high inflation. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has tightened global supplies of the fuel and led to fierce competition for diesel produced on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The shortage is concentrated on the U.S. East Coast, where distillates inventories have fallen to their lowest since 1996. Fuelmakers on the Gulf Coast have sped up exports to Latin America and Europe, while leaving the domestic pipeline supplying states along the Atlantic coast underused. 

Expensive diesel could deal a blow to the trucking sector, which consumes around 70% of all diesel used in the country and serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, according to trucking association ATA. Diesel is also used in farming equipment currently powering the largest planting season for corn and soybeans since 2017.