Dive Brief:
- A surge in on-highway diesel prices finally slowed, according to a weekly roundup from the Energy Information Administration released Tuesday morning, but still left sky-high prices not seen in years.
- Overall, there was a 2.6-cent increase for the U.S. compared to a week ago, a marked cooling from a 30-cent spike reported last week.
- Three out of seven regions had prices collectively decrease week over week (lower Atlantic, Midwest and Gulf Coast), while California’s average increased by about 35 cents to nearly $7.22 per gallon.
Diesel price surges slow
Dive Insight:
Fuel prices had consistently risen across all regions in the U.S. following a U.S. and Israel attack against Iran — until Monday’s reading.
Even on a normal day, there can be considerable volatility for petroleum. But amid the military conflict, Brent crude oil prices improved in late March, following a spike earlier in the month.
Despite that relief, costs still remain at yearslong highs. Diesel's meteoric rise from under $3.90 on March 2 to $5.07 on March 16 represented the fastest uptick “in any two-week period ever," FTR VP of Trucking Avery Vise said in a podcast last week. That displaced a previous record from March 2022.
While fuel is largely a pass-through cost for carriers, it can affect deadhead miles and “shift market share toward fleets with better fuel efficiency and stronger cost control,” C.H. Robinson Worldwide noted in a recent market report.
While there’s some relief across the country, California can buck national trends given its limited pipeline infrastructure, the state has previously noted. Meanwhile, overall U.S. domestic production of petroleum hit a record high last year amid growth in the Permian Basin in New Mexico and Texas.
