{"id":439894,"date":"2026-09-18T11:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/439894\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T11:42:10","slug":"texas-diesel-hits-record-5-96-as-u-s-average-reaches-6-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/439894\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Diesel Hits Record $5.96 As U.S. Average Reaches $6.40"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Texas<\/a> Texas Diesel Hits Record as U.S. Average Reaches $6.40 Image posted 091626 by The Hormuz Letter @HormuzLetterX <\/p>\n

Buying 30 gallons of diesel in Texas cost nearly<\/a> $179 on Thursday, about $82 more than a year earlier. <\/p>\n

AAA’s national average reached<\/a> a record $6.3956 per gallon on Thursday, September 17, or $6.40 rounded to the nearest cent. Wednesday’s average was $6.3103. Diesel was up about 42 cents nationally from a week earlier ($5.9773) and $2.69 from a year earlier ($3.7075). <\/p>\n

Are Stations Running Out? <\/p>\n

Claims that North Texas stations are displaying<\/a> “OUT,” that an Orlando station is showing $0.00 with dry pumps, and that California stations began posting outage signs Sunday could not be independently verified in this review. <\/p>\n

Federal data shows a strained supply cushion. <\/p>\n

In its September 16 petroleum report<\/a>, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said distillate inventories (a category that includes diesel and heating oil) were 13% below their five-year average for the week ending September 11. <\/p>\n

Those inventories still increased by 1.6 million barrels that week. Distillate production averaged about 5.2 million barrels a day. <\/p>\n

A station outage and a national supply shortage are different measures. The federal figures document continued production and below-normal reserves; they do not establish how many individual stations have empty diesel tanks. <\/p>\n

What Texans Are Paying <\/p>\n

AAA’s Texas data put Thursday’s statewide diesel average<\/a> at $5.9604 per gallon, compared with $3.2139 a year earlier, an increase of approximately 85%. <\/p>\n

Dallas averaged $5.9846, while Fort Worth-Arlington averaged $5.9717. <\/p>\n

At the statewide average, a 100-gallon purchase costs about $596, versus $321 a year ago. These are illustrative calculations using retail averages; actual prices vary by station, volume, and discounts. <\/p>\n

The strain is already visible locally. On September 15, diesel reportedly cost<\/a> $6.25 at an Interstate 20 truck stop, where some drivers said they could not afford to fill up, per Fox 4. <\/p>\n

How Today’s Prices Compare With History <\/p>\n

Diesel has experienced sharp swings before. EIA’s historical series<\/a> shows these national annual averages: <\/p>\n

The agency’s separate weekly survey reached<\/a> $6.285 on September 14, up from $5.599 on August 31. <\/p>\n

Annual averages, weekly readings and AAA’s daily prices cover different periods and use different methodologies. These dollar figures are not adjusted for inflation. <\/p>\n

Why The Cost Reaches Beyond Truck Owners <\/p>\n

Diesel powers freight transportation, agricultural equipment and construction machinery. Higher fuel bills can raise the cost of moving food, delivering supplies, and completing building projects. <\/p>\n

The Dallas Express previously reported that the producer-price measure for diesel jumped<\/a> 24.1% in August, while overall wholesale prices rose 5.4% from a year earlier. <\/p>\n

That producer-price increase is distinct from the retail pump averages. It nevertheless shows fuel pressure reaching businesses before consumers see the final bill. <\/p>\n

Why Prices Are Rising \u2014 And When Relief Could Come <\/p>\n

EIA’s September outlook<\/a> connects the squeeze to reduced distillate supplies from the Middle East, Russia and China. Higher international prices have encouraged U.S. exports, putting pressure on domestic inventories. <\/p>\n

Fall refinery maintenance and harvest demand could add pressure. Russian refinery outages are expected to affect global markets through the first half of 2027. <\/p>\n

The agency expects the spread between diesel and crude prices to ease after November and continue declining into mid-2027, assuming improved tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz allows more fuel onto global markets. <\/p>\n

Its September forecast<\/a> projects national retail diesel averaging $4.40 in 2027, down from $5.07 across 2026. Those are full-year forecasts, not promised pump prices or dates for relief. <\/p>\n

The forecast was finalized September 3 and excludes subsequent market developments. <\/p>\n

For Texans budgeting their next fill-up, the outlook offers the possibility of gradual relief, with timing dependent on supplies recovering. <\/p>\n

Prices noted are as of Thursday, September 17, 2026. AAA updates daily. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Diesel Hits Record as U.S. Average Reaches $6.40 Image posted 091626 by The Hormuz Letter @HormuzLetterX Buying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[152302,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-439894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-diesel-tanks","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}