Price of diesel hits all-time high as wars in Iran, Ukraine constrict global supply

The price of diesel fuel hit an all-time high Friday as wars on two continents and a global refinery shortage combined with higher seasonal demand to push prices upward.

The average nationwide price was $5.85 per gallon, up from $5.78 on Thursday, according to AAA’s gas price tracker.

Diesel prices began their monthslong rise in late February, with the launch of the Iran war and the soaring oil prices that came with it.

More recently, however, those rising prices have been sustained by an escalation in the fourth year of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia has long been the world’s second-largest exporter of diesel fuel after the United States. But Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia’s oil refineries have cut into the country’s diesel production.

Facing a potential domestic supply shortage, Russia recently extended a diesel export ban through the end of September, straining what were already critically low global diesel reserves.

Russia’s abrupt exit from the world’s diesel export market has been a boon, however, for U.S. refiners, whose diesel products now fetch even higher prices.

America’s total diesel exports hit an all-time high last month as the world scrambled to adjust to the loss of Russia’s supply.

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business