Diesel costs more than $6 a gallon for the first time. Here’s how that affects you

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The price of diesel, the workhorse fuel that powers the world economy, topped $6 a gallon on Friday for the first time ever.

The price point may be invisible to most American drivers, but will likely lead to higher costs for most things consumers buy.

The national average is $6.06 a gallon, according to the latest reading from AAA, up eight cents in just the last week. Last Friday, prices first broke the previous record of $5.82 a gallon set in June 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Diesel costs have risen more than 55% since the start of the war with Iran, outpacing the 40% jump in gasoline prices. In fact, diesel is on track for easily the biggest annual percentage increase on record, according to a CNN review of AAA data.

The problem is two-fold: First, oil futures have surged back above $100 a barrel as the US-Iran war drags on.

Second, there aren’t enough refineries operating to turn that crude into fuel.

Refineries in the Middle East and Russia have been damaged by war. Russia, a major source of diesel, has limited its exports to fight fuel shortages at home. China, seeking to avoid shortages of its own, has also restricted its exports.

“Refiners have already been maximizing the production of diesel. We simply can’t get any more diesel out of the system,” he said.

Gasoline gets most of the attention when fuel prices rise. Only about 3% of passenger cars on American roads run on diesel. However, diesel powers nearly everything else – trucks, tractors, freight trains, boats and construction vehicles.

Almost all heavy trucks and freight trains run on diesel, which transport virtually all the goods Americans buy for their homes. Major trucking companies and freight railroads pass on increased costs to their customers – like retailers and manufacturers – via a fuel surcharge. Those businesses may then raise prices to offset the costs.

On the West Coast, where the average price for diesel in California stands at $7.98 a gallon, the nation’s largest ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach are about to get a flood of containers for the holiday shopping season. Transporting them to retailers will cost more this year, which could be passed along to shoppers.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said diesel could “blow past” $8 a gallon in California. “Some pumps aren’t even built to display what could come next,” he said in a post on X.

The spike in fuel prices also comes just as the fall harvest season gets underway. Diesel is a key fuel used in farming equipment, and higher input costs could lead to higher food prices.

Goldman Sachs warned clients on Monday that global food prices are at risk of going sharply higher. The Wall Street bank blamed soaring diesel and fertilizer costs caused by the Strait of Hormuz crisis, tensions in the Black Sea threatening the global grain trade and the risk of drought and extreme heat brought on by El Nino.

Lastly, diesel is virtually indistinguishable from home heating oil, which is used to heat about 5 million homes mostly in the Northeast, including about half the homes in Maine.

“Consumers who use heating oil for their home are going to have quite a sticker shock when they get the first delivery for the season,” Lipow said.

With global oil prices closing at $107.63 a barrel, average diesel prices in the US are likely to climb higher, perhaps as much as $7 a gallon, he added.

The diesel spike has already cost Americans more than $46 billion since the war in Iran started, according to a cost tracker from Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs. That amounts to over $350 in higher costs per US household.

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柴油是世界经济的主要燃料，其价格在周五首次突破每加仑 6 美元大关。

对于大多数美国司机来说，价格因素可能并不明显，但可能会导致消费者购买的大多数商品价格上涨。

根据美国汽车协会（AAA）的最新数据，全美平均油价为每加仑6.06美元，仅上周就上涨了8美分。上周五，油价首次打破了2022年6月俄罗斯入侵乌克兰后创下的每加仑5.82美元的纪录。

自伊朗战争爆发以来，柴油价格已上涨超过55%，远超汽油价格40%的涨幅。事实上，根据CNN对美国汽车协会（AAA）数据的分析，柴油价格有望创下有史以来最大的年度涨幅。

问题有两个方面：首先，随着美伊战争的持续，石油期货价格已飙升至每桶 100 美元以上。

其次，目前炼油厂数量不足，无法将原油转化为燃料。

中东和俄罗斯的炼油厂都受到了战争的破坏。俄罗斯是柴油的主要供应国，为了应对国内的燃料短缺，已经限制了柴油出口。中国为了避免自身出现燃料短缺，也限制了柴油出口。

他说：“炼油厂已经最大限度地提高了柴油产量。我们根本无法从系统中获得更多柴油。”

燃油价格上涨时，汽油往往最受关注。在美国道路上行驶的乘用车中，只有大约3%使用柴油。然而，几乎所有其他车辆——卡车、拖拉机、货运列车、轮船和工程车辆——都使用柴油作为动力。

几乎所有重型卡车和货运列车都使用柴油，它们运输着美国人购买的几乎所有家居用品。大型卡车运输公司和货运铁路公司通过燃油附加费将增加的成本转嫁给零售商和制造商等客户。这些企业随后可能会提高价格以抵消成本。

在美国西海岸，加州柴油平均价格为每加仑7.98美元，洛杉矶和长滩这两个全美最大的港口即将迎来假日购物季的集装箱潮。今年将这些货物运往零售商的成本将会更高，而这部分成本最终可能会转嫁到消费者身上。

GasBuddy石油分析主管帕特里克·德哈恩表示，加州柴油价格可能“轻松突破”每加仑8美元。他在X网站上发帖称：“有些加油泵甚至没有设计成可以显示接下来的价格走势。”

燃油价格飙升正值秋收季节开始之际。柴油是农用机械的关键燃料，投入成本上涨可能导致食品价格上涨。

高盛周一警告客户，全球食品价格面临大幅上涨的风险。这家华尔街银行将此归咎于霍尔木兹海峡危机导致柴油和化肥价格飙升、黑海局势紧张威胁全球粮食贸易，以及厄尔尼诺现象带来的干旱和极端高温风险。

最后，柴油与家用取暖油几乎没有区别，家用取暖油被用于为大约 500 万户家庭取暖，其中大部分位于东北部，包括缅因州大约一半的家庭。

“使用燃油取暖的消费者在收到本季第一批燃油时，肯定会对价格大吃一惊，”利波说。

他补充说，随着全球油价收于每桶 107.63 美元，美国柴油平均价格可能会进一步上涨，甚至可能高达每加仑 7 美元。

据布朗大学沃森国际与公共事务学院的成本追踪数据显示，自伊朗战争爆发以来，柴油价格飙升已给美国人造成超过460亿美元的损失。这意味着每个美国家庭的柴油支出平均增加350多美元。