Diesel

EIA: diesel benchmark drops $0.183 to $6.199, a second straight weekly decline

The DOE/EIA national average fell to $6.199 per gallon for the week of Oct. 5 — now $0.33 off the $6.529 all-time high — while analysts warn the red-dye executive order means limited, uneven relief at the pump.

By CDLWire · Published October 7, 2026 · Updated October 7, 2026, 5:00 PM CT

Summarized from FreightWaves.

A digital fuel price sign at a truck stop showing diesel prices dropping at dusk

The benchmark price used as the basis for most fuel surcharges fell for the second week in a row, with the Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration average retail weekly diesel price dropping $0.183 per gallon to $6.199 per gallon, according to FreightWaves on Oct. 6.

The latest price — effective Monday, published Tuesday — is now $0.33 per gallon below the all-time high of $6.529 per gallon recorded two weeks ago, and it follows a six-week stretch in which the price rose five times. ULSD futures are weakening too: the November first-month contract settled Monday at $4.5452 per gallon, down from $4.6336 per gallon on Sept. 23, with part of the slide spurred by IEA member countries' decision to release 100 million barrels of crude, diesel, and other product from storage in Europe and the U.S.

Whether truckers see further relief from the White House's red-dye executive order is an open question. GasBuddy's Patrick DeHaan noted that states have their own dyed-diesel laws an executive order cannot override — Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas have changed their rules, but running red diesel on the road remains illegal in most states, big fleets will likely sit it out because of the patchwork of state rules, and most major truck stops do not sell dyed diesel. His assessment: "Bottom line: real change on paper, limited and uneven at the pump."

Source: FreightWaves

Update — October 7, 2026, 5:00 PM CT.

The industry verdict arrived within a day of the morning story — and it was a cold one. According to FreightWaves on Oct. 7, Breakthrough Fuel's Matt Muenster noted in a client memo that Treasury has five days to confirm it even has the legal authority to grant the deferral, and that no IRS implementing guidance had been published as of Oct. 6 — so the $0.244-per-gallon break exists on paper only for now. His bottom line for fleets: no forgiveness has been granted, so plan as if the deferred tax will still be owed.

Driver groups are not buying the rescue story either. OOIDA president Todd Spencer said wider use of red-dyed diesel will provide "minimal relief," arguing that market stability is what actually brings costs down for the long haul. The National Association of Truckstop Owners and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers told members the order is mainly a farm-hauling measure: selling dyed fuel at scale would require dedicated equipment and dyed supply at the rack, and for most marketers the liability and customer risk outweigh any temporary, uncertain benefit.

The Energy Marketers of America put the tax warning in plain terms: "Deferral is not forgiveness." Only Congress can eliminate a tax, and the order does not resolve EPA or state restrictions — federal relief does not make dyed fuel legal on-road in any state that has not acted. Most truck stop highway lanes do not dispense dyed fuel at all, so the practical opening for over-the-road fleets stays small.