Diesel Tops $6.35 a Gallon as Refining Crunch Decouples It From Gasoline and Crude

Diesel has broken its 2022 record of $5.81 a gallon, easing only slightly to about $6.35 while gasoline sits roughly 70 cents below its own 2022 high, GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said. The divergence stems from lost refining capacity rather than crude supply, he said. De Haan attributed the run-up since July largely to Russia curbing diesel exports after Ukrainian drone strikes degraded its refineries. Russia produces about 10 percent of the world's diesel. He also cited constrained heavy-crude supply from Iran and Venezuela, China's reduced refining output, and California policy limiting West Coast capacity. A refinery cannot simply swap crude grades, he noted. Wholesale rack prices have moved intraday, shifting as much as 80 cents a gallon within minutes during March and April, De Haan said, while regional spreads run 40 to 60 cents. Fuel surcharges pegged to the Department of Energy's weekly national average lag those moves, leaving carriers on expensive lanes absorbing the gap, he said. De Haan said oil companies are price takers, noting crude traded at $50 to $60 a barrel in January and February without producers thriving. Forecasts of a 2026 crude glut ended abruptly on March 1, he said.