Record diesel prices ripple into food, freight and winter heating bills

National average U.S. diesel prices reached about US$6.59 a gallon in the week of Sept. 21, up nearly US$2.78 — or 74 per cent — from a year earlier, the Energy Information Administration said, as the Iran war and Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refining squeeze global supply.

Diesel powers long-haul trucks, farm equipment, freight rail, barges and many backup generators. Higher fuel costs raise the price of planting, harvesting and refrigerated food transport; trucking research suggests a 20-per-cent fuel increase can lift operating costs by about four per cent, often passed to shoppers. Public transit systems face higher bus and train fuel bills even as expensive gasoline pushes more riders onto shared services. Heating oil, produced alongside diesel, is also tighter ahead of winter.

Regional gaps are stark: California diesel has topped US$8 a gallon while the Gulf Coast is nearer US$6. Russia, normally the world’s second-largest diesel exporter, has suspended exports into year-end, leaving buyers competing for U.S. barrels. Debate over a U.S. export ban continues, with short-term relief for some buyers weighed against risks of storage bottlenecks and cutbacks in gasoline and jet-fuel output.