News

U.S. diesel average trickles down 2.4 cents

Nov. 1, 2022

Slight slide to $5.317 per gallon is the second straight week of only incremental change, according to new federal data, so trucking’s main fuel remains in limbo, waiting for a trend to develop—possibly back up because of tight supplies ahead of winter.

Scott Achelpohl

It’s up a bit, it’s down some. Where diesel will go, nobody knows. All that is known is the U.S. average declined slightly the week of Oct. 31—2.4 cents to $5.317 per gallon—according to the newest federal data, but a sustained trend in either direction has failed to develop the last few weeks.

Perhaps the only sustained trend: The diesel average is way above the level of a year ago, $1.59 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Motor club AAA was seeing the drip, drip, drip coming all week long. AAA's U.S. average for diesel was $5.309 on Oct. 31, down half a penny from the day before and 1.7 cents below the week prior. AAA has the nationwide average at $1.675 higher than this time in 2021.

Gasoline, widely used by consumers and some commercial fleets, dropped by an almost identical number, 2.7 cents to a national average of $3.742, though the per-gallon price of gas always is much lower—$1.575 cheaper now, in fact—than diesel. The national gasoline average, like diesel, is up over last year: 35.2 cents.

Regionally, trucking’s main fuel only rose for the week of Oct. 31 on the East Coast, 2.1 cents to $5.40 per gallon, but even higher in the subregions of the East. The fuel was up, for example, in New England, by almost 8 cents. Those areas seem to be what kept diesel from dropping nationwide instead of increasing slightly because in all other regions, the fuel was down: 6.6 cents on the West Coast (to $5.81 per gallon), 4.2 cents in the Midwest (to $5.327), 3.6 cents in the Rocky Mountain region (to $5.302), and 2.2 cents on the Gulf Coast (to $4.965 and the only EIA region of the U.S. under $5).

Gas prices on the East Coast are what held up the average price in the nation. Gas was up in the East by 4.1 cents, but it was down by an equal or greater number everywhere else in the U.S.

Where diesel is concerned, prices on the East Coast are soaring relative to the rest of the country because inventories there are tight—almost half of what they normally would be this time of year, according to one report. Oil prices also are creeping closer to $90 per barrel, perhaps seasonally. Crude inventories in the U.S. are actually up 2.6 million barrels, according to Oil & Gas Journal, a sister brand of FleetOwner.

Meanwhile, ahead of next week's midterm elections, President Biden threatened on Oct. 31 to slap major oil and gas companies with a windfall profits tax if they don't ramp up production to curb high diesel and gasoline prices, accusing them of "war profiteering" in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which shot distillate prices to records when Russia invaded its neighbor early this spring. Diesel prices continued to set records for almost four months until prices started coming back down after the June 20 U.S. average per-gallon record of $5.81.

Could prices today be the latest calm before another storm of increases? Another report says diesel might be headed for another price surge as supplies dwindle—and not just on the East Coast, where refineries are operating at a maximum capacity of 102%.

About the Author

Scott Achelpohl | Managing Editor

I'm back to the trucking and transportation track of my career after some time away freelancing and working to cover the branches of the U.S. military, specifically the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Coast Guard. I'm a graduate of the University of Kansas and the William Allen White School of Journalism there with several years of experience inside and outside business-to-business journalism. I'm a wordsmith by nature, and I edit FleetOwner magazine and our website as well as report and write all kinds of news that affects trucking and transportation.