Diesel's retail-wholesale spread is down 33 cents a gallon in 30 days

The diesel retail-wholesale spread is 1.28 today, off 0.33 over the past 30 days. That is 33 cents a gallon of margin gone on every gallon you move, and it came out of the middle of the chain, not the pump. Retail diesel is 4.578 and down 12.1% on the month while ULSD futures are up 17.2% over the same stretch. Wholesale cost rising into a falling street price is the whole story of that 33 cents.

The refiner side went the other way. The 3:2:1 crack is 59.03, wider by 11.53 in 30 days, so refining economics improved by roughly the same order that the marketing spread gave up. That is a fair trade for the people running the units, and it is worth knowing which side of the barrel is paying you right now. Gasoline retail is 3.911, down 8.6% on the month and at the 58 percent mark of its 30-day range, so the pump story is not diesel-specific. Both fuels are mid-range on price with the cost side firmer than the street.

Natural gas gives some relief. Henry Hub is 2.884, down 8.4% on the month and at the 44 percent mark of its range, and storage is 2983.0, up 11.1%. Cheap gas and a comfortable build keep refinery hydrogen and process costs contained, which is one reason the crack could widen without a wholesale product squeeze on the input side.

If ULSD keeps climbing while retail stays soft, the diesel spread could tighten further from here, and 1.28 is not much cushion to work with. Anyone holding contract-price customers on diesel may want to check how much of that 33 cents they have already absorbed before the next lift.