California Diesel Pumps Max Out Displays at $9.999 as National Average Tops $6 a Gallon for the First Time

Since diesel prices broke the previous record of $5.82 a gallon and hit $5.85 on September 4, the national average has kept grinding higher. This week it crossed $6 a gallon for the first time in U.S. history, according to fuel-tracking firm GasBuddy. The American Automobile Association put Thursday's national average at $5.9773 a gallon.

California pump displays have maxed out. GasBuddy confirmed that five California stations, including one in the San Diego suburb of Serra Mesa, hit $9.999 a gallon for diesel this week, the maximum number their digital pump displays can physically show. GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan said the reports gave him "chills," calling it the first time in his career that a $10-plus price has become a realistic possibility rather than a display glitch.

De Haan cautioned that a $9.999 reading can sometimes just mean a pump is temporarily out of fuel, since some stations use the number as a warning sign rather than an actual price. But he confirmed multiple California stations are genuinely pricing diesel well above $9 a gallon, and he said it's unclear whether stations can legally reprogram their software to show over $10, or whether they'd need to switch to pricing by the half-gallon instead.

California's statewide diesel average hit roughly $7.91 a gallon this week, according to both GasBuddy and AAA figures cited by Fortune and Benzinga, compared with $5.88 for regular gasoline in the state, according to the Daily Signal. That's nearly $1.70 more per gallon of gasoline than the national average of $4.22, and the state now has the highest pump prices in the country.

The blame fight

Gov. Gavin Newsom posted sarcastically on X thanking President Donald Trump for rising gas prices, pointing to the Iran conflict and global oil-market disruption as the driver, according to the Daily Signal. The Trump administration has made the same argument nationally, touting a deal to secure majority control of Venezuelan oil reserves and claiming Strait of Hormuz tanker traffic has recovered to a wartime high of 18 million barrels on one recent Tuesday, according to the Daily Wire.

Rep. Vince Fong, a California Republican, rejects that framing for the state's extra premium over the national average. "California's gas crisis is the result of poor policy and incompetent leadership," Fong told the Daily Signal, blaming Newsom for shuttered refineries, blocked domestic production, the nation's highest gas taxes, and reliance on foreign oil from Iraq and Brazil.

The refining numbers back up part of that argument. Phillips 66's Los Angeles-area refinery shut down last year and Valero's Benicia refinery closed this year, together representing about 17% of California's refining capacity, according to the Daily Signal. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has warned that losing those refineries increases fuel-price volatility because California has limited pipeline connections to other refining regions.

At the same time, GasBuddy and AAA data show diesel and gasoline prices climbing nationwide, not just in California, driven by the same global crude spike hitting every state. Rystad Energy chief economist Claudio Galimberti told the Epoch Times that diesel costs are now filtering into bond markets: "This is one of the reasons why the government bond yields in the United States are so high, it's the expectation that inflation will continue to go up." Both dynamics, national crude-driven inflation and California-specific refining capacity, appear to be operating simultaneously, and the sourcing here doesn't establish that one fully explains the other away.

California's Division of Petroleum Market Oversight opened an investigation into pricing in the Los Angeles and San Bernardino areas back on March 19, 2026, according to Ground News, well before this week's display-maxing headlines. It's unclear from available reporting whether that investigation has produced findings or remains open.

What it's costing

De Haan said Americans are now paying roughly $700 million more per day for fuel than a year ago, adding up to about $5 billion a week, according to Benzinga. He warned that "record diesel prices will impact every cargo, shipment, every delivery Americans are taking," and predicted a costlier holiday shopping season as freight costs work through the supply chain. October diesel futures crossed $5 a gallon on Thursday, according to Bloomberg data cited by Benzinga, a signal that traders don't expect near-term relief.

The open question is whether any single station actually breaches the $10 mark, and how state or federal regulators would treat that if pump software isn't built to display it. GasBuddy says it is still investigating additional reports beyond the five confirmed California stations.