The price of diesel fuel in Missouri is just below $6 dollars, nearly 60-percent more expensive than one year ago.
Oil industry historian & author Tyler Priest says U-S refineries tend to produce twice as much gasoline as middle distillate, which is used to make diesel and jet fuel.
"We also get heating oil from middle distillate fuels, so we're entering the fall and the winter when there's going to be additional demand to heat homes, so that's going to put pressure on prices," Priest says.
Global supplies of gas, diesel and other petroleum derivatives are tight and Priest says refineries are producing every barrel of crude they can get. Priest calls diesel the global economy’s workhorse because it fuels heavy equipment.
"The increase in diesel prices ripple through the economy in ways that gasoline does not. Commerce and trade and food are all dependent on diesel fuel," Priest explains. "Even though we consume a lot more gasoline than we do diesel, diesel is important to the economy in sort of a bedrock way."
Priest says refineries are producing every barrel of crude oil they can get, plus the U-S is exporting record amounts of diesel.
"Late fall, early winter is also the time when refineries often shut down for maintenance, so all these factors are going to converge and possibly drive prices even higher," Priest says.
Diesel prices are nearly 60 percent higher than one year ago. Diesel was $5.96 per gallon in Missouri as of Wednesday, according to Triple A. The national average for a gallon of diesel fuel is over $6.31.
Missourinet