Diesel cracks hit record highs as global fuel squeeze deepens

Diesel just pulled off its best flex of the year — record crack spreads and the highest ULSD settlement in over four years — while Trump's refiners summit produced a whole lot of nothing.

Distillate markets are the story: ULSD futures posted their third-highest close ever and diesel cracks are near/at record levels ($91.91/bbl per EIA) as Middle East supply threats and Russian disruptions collide with already-thin global inventories. On the policy side, EPA's 29 Small Refinery Exemptions are drawing fire from soybean groups worried about RIN reallocation and biofuel demand destruction, while Trump's meeting with refiners over pump prices ended without a breakthrough. Operationally, Valero's Port Arthur refinery took a power outage from Storm Edouard, and Sasol flagged continued disruption at its Natref refinery in South Africa, adding to global product-supply anxiety.