Diesel Gas Price Update

Two straight weeks of declines is a trend worth watching. It is not relief. The national average has given back 33 cents since the record, but it’s still about $2.50 a gallon more than you paid for the same fuel last October, and distillate inventories are the tightest they’ve been in years heading into the season when diesel demand climbs.

Four Quick Takes:

Not out of the woods yet. Federal forecasters expect U.S. distillate inventories to stay below the five-year low through much of 2027, and their current outlook has diesel averaging about $5.55 in the fourth quarter and $4.40 in 2027. Lower than today, but still well above what you were paying last winter.

Your tank is still an asset. A few hundred gallons of standby diesel is worth considerably more than it was a year ago, and it degrades either way. Fuel testing and polishing are the cheap insurance. Pumping out a bad tank at these prices is not.

Do not skip the monthly exercise to save fuel. A run test burns a small amount of diesel. A generator that fails on the night you need it costs the building far more than a year of test runs.

Natural gas is still going the other direction. Gas prices are holding in the mid-$3 range per MMBtu, and the diesel-to-gas spread is the widest it has been in years. Several replacement projects we quoted this fall swapped a diesel standby for a natural gas or LP unit with a new transfer switch. No stale fuel, no polishing, no delivery during a storm.

Four Quick Takes:

Your fuel is now a real asset. Testing and polishing cost far less than pumping out and replacing a bad tank at these prices.

Don’t skip the monthly exercise. A run test uses a small amount of diesel. A failed start on the night you need it costs much more.

Renting? Refuel it yourself. A rental arrives with about a day of runtime, and self-fueling saves more than ever.

Natural gas is going the other direction. Prices are holding in the mid-$3 range, and several replacement projects we quoted this month switched from diesel to gas. There’s no stale fuel, no polishing, and no mid-storm delivery.