Will the Diesel Fuel Shortage in the U.S. Right Now Affect MN?

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It's true that diesel fuel is running scarce in parts of the U.S. right now, but will that shortage affect us here in Minnesota?

There's one phrase I think we're all pretty tired of hearing these days: shortages, am I right? Thanks to those always-popular pandemic-related supply chain issues (there's another phrase I'm tired of hearing) that are still affecting us over two and half years later, there have been all sorts of weird shortages that have made certain products more difficult to find, from toilet paper to coins to pet food and many others.

Now comes word that there's a diesel fuel shortage affecting parts of the U.S. right now. This CNBC story says that the northeast part of the country is particularly feeling the pinch, noting that "Reserves for diesel fuel this time of year have not been this low since 1951, with the greatest shortfall in the Northeast region including New York and New England," the story said.

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But will those low supplies affect us here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes? Well, this story puts a little more context on the issue. It says that while we're not likely to run OUT of diesel fuel in Minnesota (or anywhere in the U.S.), the current situation HAS led to much higher prices for diesel fuel.

Nationally, prices are already up 33 percent from a month ago. And according to AAA-Minnesota, the current price of a gallon of diesel fuel in the North Star State is $5.25, up nearly 40 cents from a month ago.

CNBC noted that the perfect storm of reduced diesel supply in the Northeast, the drought-stricken Mississippi River (which is making shipping more difficult), and a potential rail strike will likely all contribute to higher diesel fuel demand in the coming weeks.

This will, in turn, keep the price of diesel fuel high here in Minnesota and elsewhere in the Midwest. And those increases will also likely be passed on in the form of higher shipping, food and other costs. So while we're not likely to run out of diesel fuel, we ARE more likely to run out of extra money in our bank accounts!

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LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.