GAINESVILLE, Ga. — A large U.S. fuel distributor is warning of diesel fuel constraints in some areas of the country.
In a news release issued on Monday, Oct. 31, Mansfield Energy reported that East Coast fuel markets are facing diesel supply issues due to market economics and tight inventories.
“Poor pipeline shipping economics and historically low diesel inventories are combining to cause shortages in various markets throughout the Southeast,” the news release stated. “These have been occurring sporadically, with areas like Tennessee seeing particularly acute challenges.”
Back in May 2022, diesel prices rose by $1 per gallon, and supply dried up throughout the Southeast, Mansfield officials noted.
“Over the past few weeks, market volatility has begun to echo the challenges seen in April 2022, as we covered in FUELSNews on Oct. 11 and Oct. 14. Like before, markets are now seeing extremely high prices in the Northeast along with supply outages along the Southeast,” according to the news release.
In many areas, actual fuel prices are currently 30-80 cents higher than the posted market average because supply is tight.
“Usually the ‘low rack’ posters can sell many loads of fuel before running out of supply; now, they only have one or two loads,” according to Mansfield. “That means fuel suppliers have to pull from higher cost options, at a time when low-high spreads are much wider than normal. At times, carriers are having to visit multiple terminals to find supply, which delays deliveries and strains local trucking capacity.”
Because conditions are rapidly devolving and market economics are changing significantly each day, Mansfield is moving to Alert Level 4 to address market volatility, the news release stated.
Mansfield is also moving the Southeast to Code Red, requesting 72-hour notice for deliveries when possible to ensure fuel and freight can be secured at economical levels.
Mansfield delivers more than 3 billion gallons of fuel and complementary products annually to 8,000+ customers across the United States and Canada.
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