Diesel hits $8 a gallon in Los Angeles as the IEA board meets today on a reserve release
Diesel is $8 a gallon in Los Angeles, and the IEA governing board holds an informal meeting today to weigh releasing oil and diesel from emergency reserves. EU diplomats put the session at 13:00 local time, noon BST. For carriers and the fuel haulers who supply them, that decision is the nearest thing to short-term relief in sight.
The price run
Truckers thought the worst had passed. Then diesel doubled, according to CNN. The Los Angeles Times has LA operators staring at $8 a gallon, and one Ohio analyst told the Ohio Capital Journal that $10 is possible if supply stays tight.
Every cent of that lands on the carrier first and the shipper second through fuel surcharges, which reset on a lag and never fully catch a fast move. Owner-operators running on thin per-mile margins feel it before the surcharge formula does. Fleets that locked rates early in the year are eating the gap now.
A release from IEA member stocks could ease crude and refined supply if it clears today, though the board was meeting informally and diplomats framed it as a discussion of proposals, not a done deal. Modern Diplomacy questioned whether a release can hold back the price move at all.
The red-dyed diesel order
Roll Call reports that an order on red-dyed diesel is unlikely to stem the red ink from high prices. Red-dyed diesel is the untaxed off-road grade, chemically the same fuel without the road tax. Loosening access to it shifts who can burn what, but it does nothing about the underlying price of the barrel. The cost is the problem, and a tax-status change doesn't touch the cost.
Biodiesel heading the other way
US biodiesel exports fell 66% from July in August, to 21,676.4 metric tonnes, per USDA Foreign Agricultural Service data released October 6 and reported by Biodiesel Magazine. That is down 39% from August 2025. Imports rose over the same month. Canada took the bulk of what did ship out at 20,442.9 tonnes, with Peru at 701.7 and Indonesia at 247.1. Export value came in at $41.22 million, against $63.17 million in July.
More biodiesel staying in the country adds to the domestic diesel pool at the margin, which could help blenders stretch supply, though the volumes are small next to the diesel the freight sector burns.
What to watch
Whether the IEA board moves from discussion to an actual barrels-on-the-water release, and how fast. Watch retail diesel at the pump against your surcharge reset schedule, since the lag is where carrier margin leaks. And watch whether September biodiesel trade keeps tilting toward imports.