A BP gas station sign showing regular gasoline at $4.29 per gallon, and diesel at $5.89 per gallon. The pain felt at the pump is now a day-to-day tango of agony shared with our allies and enemies around the world. There was that brief moment of respite, perhaps, when ceasefire talks between the U.S. and Iran began and the Strait of Hormuz was set to open. But as the will-they-won't-they saga continues – all while the Strait of Hormuz opens, and closes, and opens, and then closes again — barrel prices are trying to keep up, and supply is doing no better. And anything running on diesel is really feeling that tug-of-war the most. Using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, here in the U.S. as of April 2026 the national average of regular gasoline at the pump is about $4.10 a gallon. For diesel, that price averages around $5.55, which leaves diesel drivers paying $1.45 more per gallon. At the start of 2026, however, regular prices were a bit below $3.00 a gallon, while diesel hovered closer to $3.50 a gallon. That puts regular's increase at just above a dollar a gallon, while diesel drivers experienced almost double that increase in the same four months' time. Diesel's initial rise began in the 2000s Graph of diesel fuel prices (on-highway) in dollars per gallon for the United States from May 2025 to April 2026. Diesel prices haven't always towered over the price of regular gasoline. There was a time when the price was actually lower — prior to the mid-2000s. But diesel, at that time, was simpler to make. New diesel fuel standards were introduced by the Environmental Protection Agency beginning in 2006, lowering the approved amount of sulfur in diesel fuel for road-going vehicles to 15 ppm for its ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). This gets much more complicated when you get into everything else that diesel fuels, but more on that in a moment. The new guidelines set forth by the U.S. created more complicated diesel fuel refining processes to meet those numbers, adding additional costs, and the pricing reflected that impact as it continued to climb over regular gasoline's typical threshold. The difference between the two prices, though, was similar to what we saw at the beginning of this year, when gas and diesel prices were separated by less than a dollar. The world runs on diesel, and so does everything else A diesel truck carrying fuel being refueled at a gas station. Remember earlier where we noted the EPA's regulations for ULSD get more complicated for everything else that runs on diesel? Well, that's the thing. To the everyday person who reaches for the regular, mid-grade, and premium pumps at the gas station, diesel doesn't factor into your commuting needs. But the rest of the world does typically run on diesel. The semi-trucks running your numerous Amazon packages that you probably forgot you ordered, the freighters bringing goods from all over the world, military vehicles, you name it — it all runs on diesel. Same as the tractors farmers use to clear and till fields to grow food, feed, and fuel. Diesel literally fuels the global economy. Unfortunately, while allotment for production of regular gasoline is more generous, diesel production tends to run on the tighter side. This leaves little wiggle room in supply to account for wars, the closure of a major strait that accounts for 20% of the global oil supply, or harsh winters requiring heating oil for homes (because it's chemically similar to diesel and similar to produce). All of it just further eats into the already diminished diesel supply, and some of those events are preventing a quick replenishment of it. Supply and demand dictates what's in store for the interim. With not enough diesel to go around, higher prices will likely remain and continue to bleed into the prices of nearly everything we purchase and consume. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and add us as a preferred search source on Google.
Liked by Chloé Morgan, Emily Carter
Liked by Chloé Morgan, Emily Carter
Liked by Chloé Morgan, Emily Carter