US diesel hits record $5.90 a gallon as refiners pull barrels toward diesel
The national average for on-highway diesel is $5.90 a gallon, a record, according to AAA. Every mile a carrier runs this week costs more to fuel than it ever has. Energy Secretary tied the jump to Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, which have taken diesel-making capacity offline and tightened the global barrel that US refiners draw from.
The $5.90 print
AAA has the national average at $5.90. Other trackers put it at $5.89, close enough that the story is the same either way. This is a fuel cost, not a retail-gasoline headline, so it lands directly on anyone moving freight.
The cause is supply, per the Energy Secretary: Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries have cut how much diesel reaches the market. Less diesel abroad pulls barrels away from US buyers and firms up the price here. Crude matters too, and crude is climbing, which I get to below.
What haulers pay
Fuel surcharges peg to the diesel benchmark. When the average climbs, the surcharge climbs with it, usually a set number of cents per mile for every nickel the benchmark runs over a base price in the contract. At $5.90, those surcharges are as high as the fuel line they track.
The surcharge covers the carrier on paper. The cash timing is the problem. A fleet fronts the diesel at the pump today and collects the surcharge from the shipper weeks later, so money goes out well before it comes back. Small carriers and owner-operators feel that gap first, because they have the least working capital to float it. Spot-market haulers who move without a locked surcharge eat the difference outright.
For fuel haulers specifically, the same record diesel is both the product in the tank and the cost of running the truck that delivers it. Thin retail margins at the rack get thinner when the delivery leg costs more.
Ships lose the barrel
Refiners are steering crude toward diesel and away from fuel oil for ships. Energy Aspects, quoted by Reuters, puts the shipping-fuel shortfall at 218,000 barrels a day this quarter. That would be the first shipping-fuel shortage since 2025, when the gap was just 6,000 barrels a day. Asia takes the worst of it.
The read-through for US operators is direct. The barrel a refiner cracks into diesel is the barrel it does not turn into bunker fuel, and as long as diesel is the more valuable product, that pull keeps diesel tight. Goldman Sachs said oil could reach $120 if shipping risks rise, and the bank named the same tightness in ship fuel as part of why.
Crude behind it
India's main crude benchmark topped $100 as the Middle East war escalated. Higher crude feeds straight into the diesel price, so a triple-digit barrel keeps pressure on what haulers pay at the pump.
QatarEnergy looks to be moving toward restarting LNG loadings. Six empty LNG carriers are heading for Qatar, according to Bloomberg citing Kpler ship-tracking, with one tanker recently crossing the Strait of Hormuz toward the Qatari coast. That is gas, not diesel, but it reads as a sign that traffic through Hormuz is moving again, which matters to every crude and product barrel that transits the strait.
What to watch
Whether Ukrainian strikes keep hitting Russian refineries, and how fast Russian capacity comes back. If the strikes continue, the supply squeeze holds.
The 218,000-barrel-a-day shipping-fuel gap, and whether refiners keep favoring diesel over fuel oil. If they do, diesel stays tight and surcharges stay high.
Crude direction. India's benchmark is over $100 and Goldman flagged $120 as possible if shipping risk climbs. Diesel could ease if crude softens and Hormuz stays open, and the Qatar loadings restart is one early tell on whether the strait is clearing.
Your surcharge math. At $5.90, check where your contract's base price sits and how long the lag runs between paying for fuel and collecting the surcharge. That lag strains your cash now, and it grows every time the benchmark sets a new record.