Delayed EIA Data Shows Diesel Hit Record $5.81 a Gallon in June
In July 2022, the Energy Information Administration released three weeks of postponed diesel prices, showing the national average peaked at $5.81 on June 20.
On July 7, 2022, the US Energy Information Administration released three weeks of retail diesel prices it had been unable to publish because of a hardware failure. The data showed the national average for on-highway diesel had reached $5.81 a gallon on June 20, a record for the series.
The numbers
According to Transport Topics and FreightWaves, the released figures were:
- June 13 (the last price published before the outage): $5.718
- June 20: $5.81, up 9.2 cents from the week before
- June 27: $5.783
- July 4: $5.675, down 10.8 cents
Transport Topics reported that the July 4 price was $2.344 a gallon higher than a year earlier. All 10 regions in EIA's survey posted weekly declines that week, and California remained the most expensive at $6.779. FreightWaves noted that even after the drop, the July 4 price was the fifth highest in the EIA series, which goes back to 1994, and that all five of the highest readings had come since the start of June.
Why the numbers were late
EIA said a voltage irregularity caused hardware failures on two of its main processing servers. The agency found the source of the problem June 17, replaced the hardware and moved data from backup systems to new servers. It continued to collect price data throughout the outage, so it could publish the missing weeks once the systems were restored.
The delay mattered because, as FreightWaves noted, EIA's weekly retail diesel price serves as the basis for most fuel surcharges in trucking.
Signs of easing
The released data suggested the run-up might have peaked. FreightWaves reported that ultra-low sulfur diesel futures had fallen sharply from mid-June, that diesel inventories had recovered from their early-May lows, and that refineries were running at about 95% of capacity. It also noted that retail prices tend to fall more slowly than wholesale prices.
What it means for drivers and fleets
For carriers with surcharge programs tied to the EIA benchmark, the three-week gap complicated billing. Some had to work out how to apply surcharges for weeks with no published price, and the delayed data filled that gap.
For owner-operators who buy their own fuel, the record underlined how much diesel had squeezed margins in 2022.
The early-July decline offered some relief, but prices remained far above 2021 levels. Fleets continued to rely on fuel surcharges, fuel-buying networks and idle reduction to manage costs.