Diesel Tops $6 a Gallon for First Time Ever

US diesel hit a record $6.05 a gallon for the first time, driven by the Iran war and Russian refinery damage.

The national average price for a gallon of diesel crossed $6 for the first time on record, reaching $6.05, according to AAA and price tracker GasBuddy. That is up more than 60% from $3.71 a year ago. Regular gasoline also climbed to a national average of $4.29, up 15 cents in a week. Diesel has been rising faster than unleaded gas since late July, and the surge comes just as seasonal demand picks up heading into the fuel's peak season.

Diesel set its previous record of $5.82 in June 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and prices never returned to pre-2022 levels. This latest spike layers a second war on top: since the war with Iran began in late February, the nationwide diesel average has soared 60%, and the Strait of Hormuz blockade has squeezed all fossil fuels. What makes diesel distinct is refining: Russia exports more diesel than any country except the US, and Ukrainian drone strikes have knocked refineries offline, prompting a sweeping Russian diesel export ban through at least the end of September.

Brent crude settled at $107.63 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $102.48 on Thursday, their highest levels since mid-May, per Middle East Eye. According to CBS News, the Department of Labor reported that more than a third of the jump in August producer goods prices was attributable to diesel, which rose 24.1% in a single month. GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan said there is 'just not enough diesel right now in Russia to export any volume of it,' while S&P Global Energy analysts no longer expect global oil production to return to prewar levels before the end of 2027.

Farmers are on the front line. Fourth-generation Iowa farmer Mark Mueller, who chairs the Iowa Corn Growers Association, told NBC News that $6 diesel will push him 'right to the edge,' compounded by a fertilizer shortage, since petroleum is a key fertilizer input. In North Carolina, where AAA puts diesel at nearly $5.90, Joshua Logan of Grasshopper Farms in Knightdale said he is paying about twice last year's fuel cost and has raised crop prices to cope. Truckers are already passing costs up the chain — Richard Jones told WRAL a nearly 53-gallon fill-up cost him about $400.

Economists say consumers have so far been shielded because retailers hold contracts with suppliers and have absorbed the costs, but that cushion is thinning. KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk told NBC News that diesel cost 'gets into just about everything,' from farm operations to every shipped good, and predicted an 'inflationary problem' for months. RSM's Joseph Brusuelas warned shoppers to expect higher prices on anything shipped, with groceries especially sensitive given already razor-thin supermarket margins. According to CBS News, food economist David Ortega says refrigerated, long-distance foods like seafood and fresh produce are most vulnerable, while GasBuddy's De Haan flags furniture and new-car destination charges as likely to jump if prices stick for more than six weeks.

Relief looks distant on both the supply and political fronts. President Trump, en route to the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, conceded that gas prices will not fall until after the November elections, saying, 'I think it's going to take a little bit longer than the midterms.' An NBC News poll found roughly 70% of voters disapprove of his handling of the Iran war, and in Europe, where diesel has topped 2 euros per liter, governments are extending driver relief to cushion the blow.