Utah hits new record for price of diesel fuel

SALT LAKE CITY – The price of a gallon of diesel fuel in Utah hit a record high of $6.58 a gallon on Wednesday, according to AAA.

That's two cents higher than the day before, 44 cents higher than a week ago, and $2.85 higher than this time last year.

"It remains a very, very fluid, complex situation," said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. "There's a lot of different considerations, and there's a lot of moving parts. What I say to you today could change drastically tomorrow. We're trying to do our best navigating a very complex situation."

The price of fuel varies by region. According to GasBuddy, the price of diesel in Salt Lake City is $6.61 as of Wednesday. The price of regular unleaded fuel is also high, hovering at just under $5 a gallon.

De Haan told KSL geopolitical tensions are responsible for the rise of diesel prices. He said a "good portion" of the recent increase is due to Ukraine attacking Russian oil refineries as part of the ongoing war that started in 2022 when Russia invaded.

That issue has been exacerbated, De Haan added, because of problems on the Strait of Hormuz due to the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran. Iran has limited traffic on the waterway after the war started in February.

"Only since the Strait of Hormuz has been closed have those attacks (in Russia) become more crippling," De Haan said, "because refineries in the Middle East are now stuck behind the Strait of Hormuz."

The rising cost of diesel makes it more expensive for consumers to buy everyday items, the Associated Press reported, since many goods are shipped using that fuel.

The Trump administration is currently considering a diesel export ban, CNBC reported, but De Haan cautioned that could introduce "a lot of complexities."

De Haan noted that the United States is not currently experiencing a shortage of diesel fuel, just a tight market.

"This is how economics works," he said. "To prevent a shortage, prices continually go up until demand goes down. So, this is economics at work. But unfortunately, we don't know how the next few months could bring escalations or de-escalations in these situations."

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