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September 16, 2026
Diesel shortages are being reported at gas stations across the United States, with some outlets in North Texas reportedly posting “OUT” on their diesel signage and an Orlando, Florida station said to have blanked its diesel price display to $0.00 with an empty pump — anecdotal reports that align with a broader, independently confirmed national fuel crisis now pushing diesel prices to all-time highs.
A confirmed national crisis
The U.S. national average price of diesel surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time in history on September 10, according to price tracker GasBuddy, with 28 states — including Texas, California, Florida, Washington, and North Carolina — setting all-time individual records the same day. Five California stations hit the maximum price their pump displays can show, $9.999 a gallon, according to GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, Patrick De Haan. California’s statewide average has since climbed past $7.90 a gallon, with some Bay Area cities averaging above $8.
Notably, De Haan has said that not all of the extreme readings reflect actual pump prices: some stations showing “$9.99” in GasBuddy’s system are in fact flagging that they have run out of diesel entirely, a common way stations signal “out of stock” to the app’s users rather than an actual price being charged. That mechanism is consistent with the pattern described in reports of stations in North Texas and Orlando showing blank or “OUT” displays, though those specific, localised incidents have not been independently confirmed beyond social media reports circulating this week.
By September 16, industry trackers reported the national average continuing to climb toward the low $6.30s per gallon, extending a rally that has seen diesel prices more than double over roughly five months.
Why prices are spiking
Analysts attribute the surge to four simultaneous supply shocks hitting the global diesel market at once:
- Disruption at the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint that carried roughly one-fifth of global oil supply before the ongoing U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict, which has periodically closed the strait to shipping.
- Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries, taking meaningful Russian refining capacity offline.
- A Russian diesel export ban, imposed by Moscow amid its own domestic fuel constraints.
- Tightened Chinese fuel export quotas, further restricting the global pool of refined diesel.
Global benchmark Brent crude has surged alongside diesel, crossing $100 a barrel in early September and touching an intraday high near $111 — its strongest level since May — as Houthi advances along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure have added further pressure on global energy markets. U.S. refineries are reported to be running near full capacity, with oil industry executives, including Vitol CEO Russell Hardy, warning the global market remains short an estimated two million barrels a day of refined products from Russia and nearly two million more from the Middle East.
Fallout
GasBuddy’s De Haan has said the price surge amounts to roughly $700 million per day in additional fuel costs for American consumers compared to a year earlier — about $5 billion per week — and has warned the impact will ripple through the broader economy via higher freight, delivery, and construction costs, given diesel’s central role in powering the industrial and trucking sectors. Top oil traders have separately warned the diesel shortage is likely to persist through the winter given low inventories heading into the colder months, with one industry analyst advising farm and construction operators to treat sustained $5-plus diesel prices as their new budget baseline rather than a temporary spike.
