In The News

National on-highway diesel jumps 5.4 cents, skewed by 'anomaly' in Midwest region

National on-highway diesel prices took a huge leap of 5.4 cents a gallon Monday because of planned and unplanned shutdowns of refineries for maintenance in the Midwest region of the U.S. and a strong harvest in the same area, putting unusual pressure on demand.

Prices in the Midwest reporting sector of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) went up a whopping 16.4 cents, skewing the national average.

The 5.4 number is the biggest price jump since Aug. 13, 2012, when on-highway diesel went up 11.5 cents a gallon. The largest jump since EIA records began in 1994 was 22.6 cents a gallon on May 26, 2008.

The “anomaly” Monday in the Midwest is thought to be a one-time thing and should work its way out in less than two weeks, said EIA petroleum market analyst Tim Hess. He said fall and spring are the times when refineries are normally shut down for maintenance but unplanned shutdowns as well on top of the record harvest, created the atypical situation.

It’s unusual to see one region’s prices be “quite that much against the grain,” he added.

Hess wasn’t sure if diesel prices would have followed the trend or gone up slightly Monday had it not been for the situation in the Midwest.

Until today, diesel prices had been dropping every week since June 30 except for the weeks of Sept. 1 and Sept. 8, when it stayed the same.

The Midwest sector takes in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.

Prices in the Rocky Mountain region went up 8.3 cents a gallon and in the Gulf Coast sector diesel was selling for 3 cents more a gallon. Six regions saw lower prices, with diesel down 3.6 cents a gallon in the Lower Atlantic region.

For details on prices in all 10 reporting sectors of the EIA click here.

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