Javier Blas, Columnist

$200 Diesel Puts Biden in an Ugly Corner

American stockpiles of distillate fuel are exceptionally low, which could mean higher costs for everything from trucking to farming to construction.

October 18, 2022 at 12:26 PM UTC

By Javier Blas

Javier Blas is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy and commodities. He is coauthor of “The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources.”

Uncomfortable choices await.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America

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What do Joe Biden and Harry S. Truman have in common?

Both presidents ran the US when American stockpiles of distillate fuel were exceptionally low. Currently, the US has just 106 million barrels of diesel and heating oil in commercial stocks; the last time inventories were that low in mid-October was in 1951, when Truman was in the White House. Typically, inventories should be 30% higher this time of the year.