Gas averages record $4.03 for Labor Day as diesel stocks near 20-year low
GasBuddy pegged the Labor Day weekend national average at $4.03 a gallon, 87 cents over last year and the highest Labor Day price it has on record, past the old $3.83 mark from 2012. August was the first month ever with the U.S. average above $4 for all 31 days. For c-store operators that means thinner discretionary spend walking through the door even as fuel margins get squeezed at the higher cost basis.
Diesel is the tighter story for anyone running trucks. U.S. distillate inventories are near a 20-year low and prices are climbing into it. Haulers are paying up now, and building-cost trackers are already flagging the diesel swing as a line item pushing project bids back up. GasBuddy expects some pump relief after Labor Day as summer demand fades and much of the country switches to cheaper winter gasoline after September 15. Diesel has no such seasonal help coming.
The small-refinery exemptions
EPA dropped its 2025 small refinery exemption decisions on August 31. Of 34 petitions, it granted 18 full 100-percent exemptions, 11 partial 50-percent exemptions, denied three, and ruled two ineligible. The agency put the biofuel volume waived at 1.76 billion gallons. Same day, it extended the 2025 RFS compliance reporting deadline.
For jobbers and blenders this runs straight through RIN prices. Every gallon a refiner gets exempted is renewable volume it no longer has to cover, which loosens the RIN market and changes the economics of blending ethanol and biodiesel. Corn and ethanol producers read 1.76 billion gallons as demand pulled off the table. Anyone whose margin depends on RIN values should be pricing the looser market now, not after the reporting deadline.
Trump, Iran, and crude
Crude climbed after President Trump threatened new strikes on Iran following the first exchange of fire in weeks. Brent was trading at $91.48 and WTI at $86.97, both up more than $1 from Monday, with tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz in focus. Trump said at the Oval Office the U.S. was ready to "smack" Iran if necessary.
A Brent near $91 is the wholesale floor under those record pump prices, and it works against any post-Labor Day relief GasBuddy is counting on. Crude could ease if the strait stays open and the exchange doesn't escalate, but the forward risk is to the upside as long as the threats keep coming.
The Venezuela deal
Trump said Friday the U.S. secured majority control over Venezuelan fields holding more than 65 billion barrels, and claimed it would substantially lower pump prices long into the future. The heavy crude does suit the sophisticated Gulf Coast refineries built to run it, so it helps supply on paper. Analysts are skeptical it moves the pump. More heavy barrels don't translate directly into cheaper gasoline, and the volumes take years, not weeks, to show up.
What to watch
Whether the RIN market softens once traders digest the 1.76 billion gallons of waivers, and how far. Whether diesel stocks build at all heading into fall or stay pinned near the 20-year low. And whether the Iran standoff cools or gives crude another leg up before the seasonal gasoline switch after September 15 can pull pump prices back.