Average U.S. diesel price hits $6 nationwide, $8 in California
The average diesel price in the U.S. reached $6 per gallon on Friday, and $8 in California, setting new all-time highs and raising the cost of transportation amid fuel supply disruptions caused by wars in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
According to data from GasBuddy, which tracks prices at more than 150,000 gas stations in North America, the national average for diesel hit $6.00 per gallon on Thursday night and reached $6.07 on Friday morning.
“While gasoline gets the headlines, diesel is the fuel that moves the economy, powering the freight trucks, trains, agricultural equipment, and construction machinery behind nearly everything Americans buy,” GasBuddy said in a statement. “That means its impact reaches far beyond the transportation sector.”
Those higher supply chain costs eventually work their way into the price customers pay for groceries, household goods, deliveries, and many other products.
In California, which grows more than one-third of the nation’s vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits, the average diesel price reached $8 per gallon on Friday, though many gas stations in the state are already at $9, according to GasBuddy.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said Americans are paying $711 million per day more for both gasoline and diesel compared to a year ago, when diesel was $3.70 and gas $3.18. This number will continue to grow and could soon reach $1 billion per day, he said.
Fuel prices have continued to rise amid the war in Iran and the resulting disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, but the war in Ukraine is also contributing to fuel supply disruptions as Kyiv continues to hit Russian refineries. On Thursday, U.S. crude oil futures hit $100 per barrel for the first time since May.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
