U.S. diesel prices are surging past $6 a gallon for the first time ever

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The national average hit $6.06 on Friday, up 63% from a year ago, as wars in Iran and Ukraine disrupt global fuel supplies

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Diesel prices in the United States crossed $6 a gallon on Friday for the first time, with the national average reaching $6.06, according to AAA. Compared with $5.85 last week, the current average marks a roughly 63% jump over what drivers paid at this time last year.

California, the largest agricultural state in the U.S., is seeing prices as high as $7.98 a gallon, according to CNBC.

Two overlapping conflicts are driving the surge. Fighting between the U.S. and Iran has constricted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, cutting global crude flows and straining refinery output across the Middle East. Ukrainian drone attacks damaged Russian refining infrastructure, leading Moscow to institute a diesel export ban that will remain in effect through at least the end of September, according to NBC News. Russia is historically one of the world's largest diesel exporters behind the United States.

Crude oil prices have reflected those pressures, with U.S. crude futures topping $100 a barrel this week for the first time in months. Brent crude, the international standard, was trading above $105 a barrel on Friday, according to the Associated Press.

The record carries wide economic consequences given diesel's central role in the supply chain — it is the fuel behind the freight networks, farm machinery, and vessels that carry goods across the country and around the world. According to the AP, which cited the Independent Grocers Alliance, diesel and other fuel costs make up somewhere between 15% and 30% of what food ultimately costs to produce and deliver. Foods that spoil quickly, including meat and fresh produce, tend to absorb price shocks earliest since they depend on continuous delivery runs and cold-chain logistics.

"The cost of diesel gets into just about everything," KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk told NBC News. Looking ahead, Swonk said she expects the burden to persist, calling it an "inflationary problem" that will linger well beyond the current moment.

"As we climb higher, it is a real concern," Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy, told CNBC.

Daily spending by Americans on gas and diesel combined is running roughly $700 million higher than it was a year ago, according to CNBC.

The milestone follows a series of prior records. As prices broke the previous all-time high of $5.82 set in June 2022, the combined disruptions in Persian Gulf shipping and Russian exports were already removing roughly 20% of the diesel that normally moves by sea, according to ING commodities analysts.

When adjusted for inflation, the current price remains below the 2022 record, which would equate to about $6.56 in 2026 dollars, according to the AP.

President Donald Trump said this week that oil prices are unlikely to fall before November's midterm elections. "I think it's going to take a little bit longer than the midterms," he told reporters, according to NBC News.

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