Refinery attacks and record diesel prices roil fuels markets

Diesel just hit an all-time record over Labor Day, and now Houthi missiles are turning Saudi Aramco's Jizan refinery into a fireball — the kind of one-two punch that makes "the market is underpricing refinery risk" sound less like a hot take and more like a warning label.

Crude and refined product prices are climbing on a wave of supply-side shocks: Houthi missile strikes on Saudi Arabia's Jizan refinery, renewed Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries in Saratov, Perm and Tatarstan, and lingering fallout from the US-Iran strikes are all feeding into a market that TACenergy warns is "underpricing" refinery attack risk. On the ground, US consumers felt it directly — gas and diesel both hit record Labor Day highs, with diesel touching $5.85-5.90/gal in some reports, squeezing freight and food costs. Meanwhile, policy developments continue on the biofuels/SAF front (EPA small refinery exemptions shifting 1.76B RINs, House passage of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, record ethanol blending) even as Goldman flags a possible run to $120 oil if Middle East shipping attacks escalate.