DIESEL HIT AN ALL-TIME RECORD $6.529 A GALLON — THE ENERGY SECRETARY SAYS BANNING EXPORTS “DEFINITELY DOESN’T WORK” — FUTURES FELL 4% ON THE BAN REPORT ANYWAY

The EIA put on-highway diesel at $6.529 a gallon for the week ending September 21. That is the highest weekly price in the agency's series, past the $5.810 record set on June 20, 2022. A year earlier it was $3.749. The pump price is up 74 percent in twelve months, and up $1.951 a gallon since July 6.

On September 23 Politico reported the administration is preparing a 90-day ban on diesel exports, citing five people familiar with the discussions, with the legal process still being worked out. The White House told The Hill in an unsigned statement, “This is not true.” A White House official told Reuters that a flat, temporary export ban “was not correct.” Another told CNBC that Trump “wants to see gas prices at the pump fall and is evaluating all the options on the table.” Three answers in one afternoon, no name on any of them.

Everyone willing to attach a name says the ban backfires. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, whose department would have to run it: “The blunt tool of banning diesel exports definitely doesn't work.” He told the Wall Street Journal the same day that they are “trying to avoid a blunt hammer of a government policy, understanding the complexity of refining.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said earlier in September he is “not at all confident” a ban would lower prices. Mike Sommers, who runs the American Petroleum Institute, said restricting exports “would only compound the problem” and warned against “new restrictions that risk making a difficult situation worse.”

The market took a side inside the hour. October ultra-low-sulfur diesel futures fell 4 percent to $4.7437 a gallon, after being down more than 6 percent earlier in the session. Traders sold American diesel on a report that America might keep it. That is what the ban did before it existed. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $84,345.